Worth the Wait
by A11y50n
Summary: AU, Another way Oliver and Felicity could have met and how their relationship develops.
1. Chapter 1

Worth the Wait

This is AU, the timelines have been changed. It's another way Oliver and Felicity could have met and how their relationship developed.

Chapter 1 –The Offer

"So those are the terms. Do we have a deal?" Robert Queen asked the young blonde

Felicity was sitting in front of the grand desk in Mr Queen's office. She was shocked at the proposal but it was too good to reject. She had no idea how he knew about her but his offer was too generous to turn down.

"Ms Smoak, do we have a deal?"

"Yes, we do." Felicity stood up and shook his hand to seal the deal

"Good, here's the contract. As I stipulated earlier, if you become involved, in a romantic sense, with my son you forfeit the money for college. I do not expect miracles but I would like to see his grades go up to a B average. By romantic I mean, making out, sleeping with or a loving relationship with him. Do we understand each other?"

Felicity nodded her head pushing her glasses up her nose sure she was blushing from the pointed remarks from the head of the Queen family.

"Good, so you can start the first day of the summer break. I honestly don't know what has got into him but he doesn't seem to care about anything. I want him to get into and go to college."

"Mr Queen I will do the best I can but only Oliver can put the effort in if he is willing. As to the other matter, I'm fifteen years old and even if I was older you son would have no interest in me in that regard so I think you should write that cheque right now because I will be collecting that before I go to MIT! It was good doing business with you!"

Felicity held her hand out again to shake Mr Queen's hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Meeting

Felicity was shown into the dining room, well she thought it was the dining room, her whole apartment would have covered the floor area of whatever room she was in. She was taking her job seriously. She was contracted to be Oliver Queen's tutor for the next year. She was daunted by the responsibility but she had been a tutor before and she needed the money to go to MIT. Granted she could apply for a scholarship or even get student loans but the thought of being that amount in debt was very scary for her. So when the offer came from the Queen patriarch she jumped at it. She could get Oliver, Mr Every Lady Loves Me, Queen to study, she would make him and to be fair his dad wasn't expecting miracles, he just wanted his son to get accepted into some decent colleges without having to pay for it to happen.

So here she was on the first day of the summer break at 2 in the afternoon waiting on the elusive Mr Queen. She had to wait a good twenty minutes for him to turn up, in that time she got all her supplies organised. When he walked in she was pretty sure she stopped breathing, he was GORGEOUS, just because she wasn't his type doesn't mean she was blind. The fact that he was kind of a man whore didn't help either. He didn't seem to be the usual confident guy she saw around school.

"Hi I'm Oliver, sorry I'm late!"

"Hi I'm Felicity. I'll be your tutor for the next 52 weeks!"

"Do I know you? You look a little familiar to me…"

"We're in the same History, French and Biology class."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realise…"

"Why would you? I'm fifteen, not your type plus a scholarship kid, we don't exactly mix in the same circles."

"Oh…"

"Look, I'm here to do a job and I want to help you get the best grades possible but like I told your dad it will take effort from you as well, there is only so much I can do!"

"Look I do appreciate this…thanks."

"I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart, your father made me an offer I couldn't refuse. So let's get started, I hear Math isn't your strong suit?"

Oliver grimaced.

"I think you'll find that an understatement!"

"Ok, where do you want to start?"

"At the beginning?"

Felicity gave him a look.

"I don't mean to be sarcastic or anything but seriously I don't know what my father offered but just for Math alone you deserve hazard pay because me and numbers do not go together!"

"Yet!"

"Huh?"

"You and numbers don't go together yet! You will but it may take a little time plus you need to practice, every day. When it comes to Math the more you practice the better it will be, honest. Would I lie to you?"

"I don't know you so yes you could lie to me!"

"Ok well, I walked into that one. Well, hmmmm let me see. My name is Felicity Smaok. I'm a scholarship kid, my mum is a waitress. I love computers, mint choc chip ice cream and sci-fi shows. I hate peanuts, allergic, fruit in cakes and people who don't treat their computers with respect!"

"Wow that was informative. What can I tell you about me?..."

"Ermm, you don't really need to tell me anything. You're Oliver Queen, best friends with Tommy Merlyn and Laurel Lance. You sleep with any hot girls, apparently you're very good… you like your Big Belly Burger and you adore your sister!"

Oliver just looked at her with his eyebrows lifted. He saw her turn red under his look.

"That's what I've heard not that I've talked about you in bed. I heard various girls in our classes talk about you and you're talent in the bedroom talk about getting a girl hot! Not that I was or ever have thought about you in that way. If I wanted to feel that way then I'd read 'Fifty Shades of Grey' which is supposed to be hot, well hotter than you…."

Oliver's eyebrows were in his hair line now and his mouth was twitching.

"Oh yeah, one other small, teeny tiny thing I have a tendency to ramble a little as you've just witnessed!" Felicity said as she pushed her glasses up her nose

Raisa chose that moment to come in with refreshments, everyone in the room heard Felicity mutter

"Oh thank god!"

Raisa met Oliver's eyes and he realised that she heard the entire conversation but didn't want to interrupt but thought now was an opportune time.

"Chocolate chip cookies and fruit juice Master Oliver."

"Thanks Raisa."

They studied for an hour and during that time Thea had come down and was trying to be an annoying little sister and bait Oliver until Felicity told her to leave or stay and complete some Math problems. Much to Oliver and Felicity's surprise Thea decided to stay and complete the problems Felicity wrote for her. Moira and Robert were watching their children study and the young lady that had them under control.

"Well that was a good start. You're much better than you think you are Oliver. Whoever told you 'you and numbers don't go together' is an idiot! Tomorrow we'll tackle Chemistry with those chemical equations, ok?"

Oliver sagged in defeat but nodded his head.

"Thea I think you have a smart brain in that head of yours but try to use your smarts for good not evil, help your brother out by not bothering him when's he's studying. I'm sure he's a great big brother and takes you for ice cream, to the movies and plays with you when you want so help him out a bit ok? If you want to sit with us that's great I'll get some more problems ready for you!"

"Thanks Felicity, you make Math seem so simple. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Thanks but I need to head home, another time maybe."

It was strange, Oliver thought, before the study session she was nervous but during the session she was really confident now she's back to nervous again.

Felicity turned around to see Oliver and Thea's parents standing watching them.

"Hi Mr Queen and Mrs Queen. I'll be going now. See you two tomorrow."

"So how did it go?" Robert asked his son

"It went well. Thanks for finding her dad!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Incident

The study sessions were going well, they were into the second month of the arrangement and more often than not Thea would join them but today she was at a birthday party for her current bff. Oliver was acting weird he wasn't his usual affable self. At one point he put his pen down turned to her and kissed her full on the mouth and was trying to deepen the kiss then the next thing he knew her hand had made contact with his face in an almighty slap. Neither knew who was more shocked.

"WHAT'S WITH YOU? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? This is not you. I have never, not once heard a girl you've been with say a bad thing about you. They all say how kind you are. Granted you are a man whore but as long as you and your current 'flavour of the hour' are safe, then who cares. Make sure you wear condoms ok? Never not wear a condom. You must be keeping Durex in business all by yourself! You should get some shares in that company, maybe you could get your dad's company to develop their own one and you could be the chief tester! I think it's time I call it a day, I expect an apology within the next 24 hrs or you will never see me again, well apart from school and the classes we have together but you know what I mean!"

Oliver just stood there he couldn't believe he made a pass at her and it wasn't even smooth and he didn't even think of her like that. Sandra had told him she was pregnant and he decided to lash out on Felicity. He must have scared her but she had a great slap maybe he could get her to teach Thea that. Oliver phoned Tommy to tell him what happened.

"Tommy, I completely messed up…."

Tommy told Oliver how to fix the mess he'd gotten himself into. That's why he was outside Felicity's home at 9 pm to hand deliver an invitation. She didn't open the door so he slipped it underneath, hoping against hope that she would accept his apology.

The next day Felicity turned up with an extra bag.

"I'm here and any funny stuff then you'll never be a father ok?"

"Deal!"

Oliver had spoken to his dad the previous day and told him he made a massive mistake and he needed to rectify it and would he give permission for Felicity and him to take a day off from studying. He knew his father was curious but he gave his permission for Felicity to have a slumber party at their house.

"So what did you bring to watch?"

Oliver was expecting some sci-fi programme but he was completely flummoxed when Felicity took out 'Pride and Prejudice' the BBC version out of her bag.

Felicity swept passed him into the tv room.

"I hope you have the popcorn ready Queen! All the episodes plus the extra features are coming your way! You're in for a treat!"

At some point Robert, Moira and Thea all came into the room to watch part or a complete episode. Every time Oliver fell asleep Felicity would kindly wake him up, by elbowing him hard in the ribs, so he wouldn't miss a minute. The others saw this and were highly amused. Thea stayed with them for the rest of the night. The next morning Robert and Moira entered the TV room to see all three asleep on the sofa. The room had three sofas but they were all on one, Oliver in the middle with Felicity and Thea at either ends with their legs in his lap. The remnants of their slumber party feast on the coffee table.

A couple of hours later Robert managed to get Felicity by herself.

"So what did my son do?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Felicity, I know you're smart but please do not try to play me. I know my son did something because he came down to the office, something he rarely does, to speak to me, he mentioned he messed up and wanted to fix it which is why I gave him permission to miss your tutoring session. I also noticed the red mark on his face when he came to see me. It must have been pretty bad because there is nothing on this Earth that would make Oliver watch a period drama if he didn't have to…"

Felicity had a wide smile on her face.

"Mr Queen there was a … misunderstanding between me and your son. It will not happen again because Oliver knows what will happen if he …misunderstands me again!"

"So he finished watching all the episodes?"

"I made him watch all the episodes then we watched other films, kid friendly films as Thea was with us, we were too tired to go upstairs so we crashed out on the sofa at around 3 am."

"You are one devious person. You're sure you're only 15?"

Felicity smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Heartbreak

Felicity arrived at the Queen mansion at her usual time but Oliver was no where to be seen she gave him twenty minutes then she went looking for him. She found him in his bedroom on the floor completely drunk. She had no idea what to do so she grabbed his phone and dialled one person who would know.

"Tommy, I'm Felicity and you need to get here right now, something's wrong with Oliver but I don't think his parents would be too pleased to see him like this…"

"Ok we're on our way, be there in twenty!"

Felicity opened the bedroom door to let in Tommy and Laurel and what they saw shocked them. Oliver was passed out on the floor and it appeared he had been crying. Felicity couldn't move him to the bed because he was too heavy for her.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked

"I don't know I found him like this. This is not like him, is it?"

"No whenever we've gotten drunk it's been at a party or something we generally don't drink when we're alone." Laurel added

"So what could have made him do this?" Felicity was nearly in tears

"Let's get him to the bed."

The three of them managed to move him from the floor to the bed.

"He's heavier than he looks!" commented Felicity

"Let's take his clothes off!"

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Felicity

"He can't stay in those clothes, he stinks of booze! He needs to be more comfortable. C'mon help me!"

"This is not how I'd imagined seeing Oliver naked!"

Felicity looked up to see both Tommy and Laurel looking at her with smiles on their faces. Felicity closed her eyes.

"Please tell me that I didn't just say anything out loud did I?"

"I didn't hear anything did you Laurel?"

Neither could keep the smirks off of their faces.

"However I will not cover for you if you take photos of Oliver when he's naked, I won't stop you but I won't cover for you!"

"Oh god! I have never been so embarrassed, please don't say anything to him will you?"

"Well what is my silence worth?"

"Huh?"

"What will you give me to keep your secret?"

"What do you want?"

"Tutoring in History, I suck at it. Oliver says you're a great tutor and if you have the time I would really appreciate it."

"I'll do that plus with the both of us looking out for Oliver hopefully this won't happen again."

"The three of us!" Laurel added

The three of them managed to take Oliver's t-shirt and trousers off, if either saw how red Felicity was neither mentioned it. Once Oliver was in his sleepwear they relaxed until they heard a knock on the door.

"Ollie, open up. Where's Felicity?" Thea asked

Felicity walked to the door an opened it a little to see Thea.

"Hey Thea, Oliver is a little …unwell at the moment so Tommy, Laurel and I are going to take care of him ok?"

Thea stared at her for a few seconds and then walked off without another word. None of the friends wanted Oliver's parents to see him like this. Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Laurel opened it to find a tray of sandwiches, snacks and drinks in front of the room. She quickly took it in and faced the others.

"Raisa is an angel!" declared Tommy

They ate while watching some movies Felicity kept an eye on Oliver and this didn't escape the other two. It was passed midnight and they were all asleep, Tommy and Laurel in each other's arms on the bed by Oliver, Felicity and at some point Thea on the sofa with their legs on the bed, that's how Robert and Moira found them. They thought it was weird that neither of their children joined them for dinner even though they were in the house. They knew something was going on as Raisa was acting differently from the composed person she was. They knew Oliver was acting out of character but he wouldn't open up to either of them. They were so glad that their son had great friends to look after him when he was in pain.

The next morning Oliver woke up to see Felicity and his sister asleep on the sofa facing him he had no idea why they were there, he turned over to find Laurel in Tommy's arms. He didn't remember what happened the night before to warrant everyone sleeping in his room but he was pretty sure it had something to do with alcohol as he had a headache. He gingerly got up from the bed and made his way to his bathroom to freshen up. When he entered his room everyone was awake but his sister was no longer there. Felicity was coming towards him he knew he owed her and the others an explanation, what he didn't expect was the slap that Felicity gave him.

"What…"

"THE NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO GET DRUNK DO IT SOMEWHERE WHERE YOUR PARENTS AND OR 11 YEAR OLD SISTER WON'T FIND YOU! I walked in here and found you collapsed on the floor. For a moment I thought, …, I thought. It doesn't matter what I thought. But next time you have a problem talk to your best friend, your parents you're rich enough, talk to a shrink for goodness sake!"

Oliver and the other two just stood there in silence as they watched Felicity storm out of his room slamming the door shut. A few seconds later he turned to his best friend.

"She's not wrong!"

Oliver again watched people leave his room without a backward glance. He knew he would have to apologise, no time like the present he thought. He made his way downstairs and heard voices from the dining room and followed the voices.

"Ah he's awake, that must have been some Harry Potter marathon!"

Oliver eyed his father as if he was mad.

"Huh?!" Oliver replied

"You know the Harry Potter films that you just had to watch last night, all eight of them!" Felicity supplied "We tried to reason with him about waiting until the weekend but I think Oliver found his inner wizard and just had to watch all the films. He's even thinking about going as Draco for Halloween!"

Oliver was giving her a look and she was disregarding it, Tommy, Laurel and Thea were loving it.

"See I told you Ollie that you would love it, now you just have to read the books. I'll lend you my copies as long as you promise not to ruin them!"

"Thea that's fine I'll borrow Felicity's copies when I have the time…"

"NO YOU WILL NOT!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at her.

"What I mean to say is that Oliver should have his own copies that he could read any time. Besides I'm in the middle of rereading them so unfortunately I can't lend them to you, I have no idea how long I'm going to be so you may as well buy your own set. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I don't trust you with my books…"

"It was once!"

"One too many times, what idiot writes in a book? You that's who! You wrote a nickname in my book! Who does that? It's bad enough that you think it's alright to write in a book in the first place but in someone else's that's just wrong on so many levels…"

"It was a nickname I was trying to remember for ages and I had to tell Tommy about it before I forgot so I wrote it down…"

"Yeah, I can just understand why 'MegaBoobs78' was so important." Felicity gave Oliver a sardonic look

Oliver had the grace to look embarrassed. Laurel was staring at Tommy who was trying to ignore it but couldn't and eventually gave her a sheepish smile. They all sat down to have breakfast.

For the next couple of months the dining room was taken over by the study group. Oliver knew they were concerned about him and Tommy had tried to talk to him but he wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. Felicity was still in a mood with him but he knew how to get to her, instead of the extravagant gifts he would usually give to a girl he knew this wouldn't work with Felicity so he went simple, he found Doctor Who stationary and bought a lot, he knew this wouldn't be the first time he messed up so he thought it would be good to have some spare items. So a week after the drunk incident Felicity was being very 'proper' towards him, gone was the easy going friendship that they had struck. She was the same with Thea, Tommy and Laurel but very reserved with him. Everyone noticed and was amused by this. He was very frustrated by the situation; he couldn't wait for his order to arrive. So when Felicity walked in for their study session she paused and saw the Doctor Who pencil by her place but she ignored it and carried on if nothing happened. At the end of the session she started to pack up her stuff and picked up the pencil as well and left the room. Two seconds later she was back.

"Thank you for the pencil, I'm still mad at you!"

Oliver had a smile on his face for the rest of the evening.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Sweet Sixteen

"Oliver, we need to have a chat."

Oliver was a little perturbed by the seriousness of his father's tone, to his knowledge he hadn't done anything he should be worried about so he was confused.

"Oliver I'm going to be frank. I know you have feelings for Felicity but you cannot act on them!"

Robert held his hand up before Oliver could respond.

"I made Felicity an offer she couldn't refuse when it came to tutoring you. She was going to get an all-expense paid ride to MIT but it came with certain conditions, you get your grade average up to a B, you get accepted into a college and absolutely no romantic involvement with you, whether it be making out, a one night stand or a proper relationship…."

"What?!"

"If she breaks any of those then she will not receive any money for college. I've noticed that she does have feelings for you and whereas I would think you two would make a good couple, she's too young to get serious and you know it would be serious for her. I know you've changed as well but you have to put Felicity first, if you have any feelings for her all you can be at the moment is a friend and nothing else. Do you understand?"

Oliver nodded his head.

"Say Happy Birthday to Felicity for your mother and I! Have fun!"

"It's only me, Thea, Tommy and Laurel that are going to be there. We're going to watch movies. Felicity is making each of us bring 3 each and will pick one out at random and watch it, she says it's the fairest way."

"Of course she does!"

" _So what are your plans for Saturday?" Oliver asked_

" _Erm the same as usual, me on the couch with a tub of mint choc chip in front of the tv watching whatever I'm in the mood for! Why?"_

" _Well it's your 16_ _th_ _birthday aren't you going to celebrate?"_

" _Of course I am, I just told you how!"_

" _No I mean are you not going to have a party?"_

" _Emr Oliver you do realise I'm kind of a loner right? I'm not good with people! Computers are my friends!"_

" _So no party?"_

" _So to disappoint you but no there will be no girls for you to hit on!"_

 _Oliver smirked at Felicity's response._

" _You wound me with your harsh words oh fair lady!"_

" _Oh please! I really hope you have a daughter one day."_

" _Why?" Oliver asked confused_

" _Well you do realise that every girl you've slept with, assuming you started slow when you were fifteen then increased the number when you got into your 'groove', you seem to be in a holding pattern at the moment, anyway that triple digit number…"_

 _Felicity paused to look at Oliver who only shook his head. Oliver knew Felicity wanted to know the exact number of girls he's slept with and for some reason he feels dirty talking about it to her so every so often she would throw a random comment hoping he would cave and tell her his magic number. Oliver smirked at Felicity and she just huffed._

"… _it was worth a try." Felicity muttered which caused Oliver to smile. "Anyway, as I was saying, all those girls are someone's daughter and if you have one heaven help her when she's old enough to date!"_

 _Felicity had the widest smile as she saw Oliver's face blanch._

" _Yeah well if I have a daughter she will not be able to date until she's 30! So there!"_

" _Yeah good luck with that! What about your more immediate problem?"_

" _What problem?"_

" _Well, some of those girls may also have brothers…"_

 _Oliver hung his head._

" _So what's your plan for Thea seeing as you'll be in college when she's ready to date!"_

" _Thea's still into fairy tales, she's not interested in boys yet!"_

 _Oliver watched as Felicity laughed until she cried!_

" _What's so funny?"_

" _Seriously? You think your 11 year old sister is only into fairy tales? Oh you poor deluded fool! It may surprise you to hear that Thea is into 1D."_

" _What?"_

" _1D, you know the boy band…"_

" _Yeah she likes their annoying songs!"_

" _WOW! You are really oblivious aren't you? Maybe Thea is taking pity on you. She is mad about the band because they are four hot guys, at least in her opinion."_

" _No way, she's too young to think or feel things…"_

" _I really hope you have a daughter. I bet from the day she's born you'll be worrying about when she's 16! I really hope you only have daughters!"_

" _Anyway back to your birthday, c'mon we have to do something."_

" _No WE do not! You know me, I like the simple things in life, a good book, a tub of ice cream and a good film or programme! I'm happy."_

" _Ok how about you have a mini celebration, just us watching films?"_

" _What films?"_

" _Birthday girls' choice!"_

" _So I could have a rom-com fest?"_

 _Oliver hesitated then reluctantly agreed. Felicity was clapping her hands in anticipation._

 _When she realised Thea was coming as well she sent an urgent text to Oliver, Tommy and Laurel to bring any Disney DVDs or child friendly films they had._

"Ok, explain this to me again none of you have seen 'The Goonies' or 'The Princess Bride'?

"I've seen 'The Princess Bride'!" Laurel replied

"Suck up!" Oliver said

"Hey, it's not our fault your parents didn't educate you two correctly!"

Felicity was horrified that Oliver, Tommy and Laurel hadn't seen some classic films so she was on a mission to 'educate' them. They spent the day watching E.T., Back to the Future, War Games, Home Alone plus Monsters Inc, Shrek and Toy Story, thankfully the boys knew the animated films as they took Thea to the cinema to see them.

"You two are heartless you know that!" Felicity declared to Oliver and Tommy

"What are you talking about?" Tommy asked

"Seriously? Neither of you cried when we watched E.T.!"

"Why would we cry?"

Felicity, Laurel and Thea looked at the boys with disbelieving looks.

"Heartless!"

"Ollie, how could you not cry? The bit on the bikes was so cool." Thea stated

Oliver just shrugged his shoulders. In between watching the films they made brownies, ate numerous flavours of ice cream, ordered pizza and made the best nachos ever. It was one of Felicity's best birthdays. Oliver and Thea had given her a pair of Doctor Who pyjamas, which Felicity changed into straight away and Laurel and Tommy gave her an X-Files thermos which she squealed at. They all knew that she was a caffeine addict even Raisa made a special pot of coffee for her, a pot that Robert Queen found too strong!"


	6. Chapter 6 Happy 18th

Chapter 6 Happy 18th

"So when is the big night?" Felicity asked

"Excuse me? Oliver asked

"When are you celebrating your 18th?"

"Why? Are you coming?"

"Heck no! Parties are not my scene let alone a Queen/ Merlyn party no way!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Felicity just gave him a look.

"Seriously? I've heard so much about your parties, I'm pretty sure I'm too innocent to attend one of them plus I've already seen you drunk and its not an experience I want to repeat!"

"Hey, I resent that!"

"Ok so will Thea be attending?"

"Hell no! That's not a place for an 11 year …"

Felicity had a smirk on face as he had just proved her point.

"You think you're so smart!"

"I don't think it I know it! So tell me how many days do I avoid Queen Mansion?"

"None!"

"Excuse me?"

"None, I'm not having a party."

"Huh? You Oliver 'Party Animal' Queen is not celebrating his 18th? Are you ok? Are you sick?"

"Har har, I'm fed up of the parties…"

"HUH? Ok, what have you done with my Oliver?..."

Felicity was wondering why Oliver was smirking and she thought about what she said and could feel her face turning red.

"I…I…I mean not _my_ Oliver but the Oliver I know. I mean don't you live for parties?"

"Not any more, I've been there and done that and although I thought I loved it at the time, throwing up everywhere and waking up with a hangover with a random girl who just wants to brag about sleeping with Oliver Queen doesn't seem to do it for me anymore!"

"So does Tommy know?"

"Oh yeah!"

"I take it didn't go down so well?"

"That's an understatement if ever I heard one!"

" _WHAT?"_

" _You heard me."_

" _I think I may have gone temporarily deaf because I thought I heard you say you're not going to have a party for your 18_ _th_ _."_

" _You heard right!"_

" _Why?"_

" _Aren't you tired of it? All the alcohol that just gives you a hangover that's not worth it. You have Laurel so you don't sleep around anymore and more importantly I'm fed up of the hangers on that think we're mates because we're in the same building at the same time drinking. Could you even name 10% of the people that attend our parties?"_

" _That's not the point!"_

" _Isn't it?"_

" _So you're not going to ask Felicity to your party then? It would be a prime opportunity, she's 16 you'll be 18 that's only two years difference…"_

" _I can't even if I wanted to."_

" _Excuse me, why?"_

 _Oliver told Tommy about his dad's deal breakers and Tommy just laughed._

" _Hmmm how can we solve this? If only you were independently wealthy and could afford her tuition…"_

" _Do you really think she would accept money from me?"_

" _Well she doesn't have to know…"_

" _Tommy she'd find out, my dad would tell her and you know how stubborn she can be, she'd never take it."_

" _I could give her the money…"_

" _Do you really think she'd take your money?"_

" _Well my dad could pay for her college, he's so impressed that my grades are improving he'd do it if I asked."_

" _The money is not the issue, it's Felicity accepting it, you know if she found out she would defer until she earned the money herself plus she's too honest. Anyway maybe she doesn't feel the same way?"_

" _Ok Ollie I know I can be blind to some things but even I know that Felicity has feelings for you, I mean even my dad knows after meeting her here once. She's an open book!"_

" _I can't do it to her, I would probably mess it up and for what so she misses out on MIT just for a few dates I can't do that to her. She's been working towards MIT for ages. I just have to wait until we graduate then I can ask her out."_

" _You're going to wait until we're about to head off in our own directions before you ask her out? So you're going to do the long distance thing?"_

" _I…I don't know."_

" _You may want to think about it!"_

 _Tommy looked at his best friend of since forever._

" _She's it for you isn't she?"_

" _I don't know. She's the first that's looked at_ _ **me**_ _and listened to_ _ **me**_ _not 'Ollie Queen' not seeing me as a means to an end. She sees me and I really like her but even if we did go out I wouldn't be able to keep up with her, she's way smarter than me…"_

" _That's a given."_

" _So what's the point?"_

" _The point is that she makes you happy and_ _ **this**_ _you totally deserves her if you turn back into douchebag you then I will kick your ass if you hurt her, you understand?"_

 _Oliver nodded._

" _So what's the plan for your non-party because we are definitely doing something."_

" _Welllllllllllllllll…"_

" _Oh I'm not going to like this am I?"_

" _We're going to love it, I was thinking maybe an old fashioned computer game night?"_

" _Ok doesn't sound too bad, what's with the hesitation?"_

" _Well I'm going to need your help with 'tricking' Felicity into coming."_

" _Why?"_

" _Well I want her to bring her 'A game' plus I don't want her to go easy on us!"_

" _You know she's going to kill us right?"_

" _But it will be a great way to go won't it?"_

"So have you told her yet?" Tommy asked as he walked into the living room

Oliver and Felicity turned to face Tommy.

"Told me what?"

"Ollie hasn't told you what we're doing for his birthday?"

Tommy turned to Oliver.

"Why haven't you told her?"

"Told me what? What are you doing?"

"Well Ollie thought it would be a great idea if we had an old fashioned 'game night' as in computer…"

Tommy couldn't carry on as he and Oliver were watching Felicity cry with laughter.

"What's so funny?" asked an affronted Oliver

Felicity was still crying a few seconds later, she was wiping her eyes when she looked at the two men and started laughing again. Eventually she calmed down enough to answer the question.

"Sorry it was just the thought of you two playing computer games that made me laugh! You probably had all the latest computers and consoles but I bet that neither of you completed a game! Or if by some miracle you did it was with the help of cheats!"

"Excuse me?!"

"What?!" both Oliver and Tommy exclaimed at the same time

"Well…c'mon you both have to admit that you're not…erm…not the most patient or dedicated. You would probably give up after a while and you probably never made it past level two of a game. C'mon when competing with each other each of you paid a 'geek' to play instead of you, I would be surprised if you didn't use the same 'geek'!"

Oliver and Tommy looked at each other and looked away again because Felicity was spot on but they weren't going to admit that!

"Ok Smoak bring it! Saturday night and we'll see who's good at games!"

"What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?"

"Tommy…" Oliver started

"Well…every time I beat you either of you, you will have to do anything I want."

"And if we win?"

"Oh please that will NOT happen, Thea would be able to beat you two!"

"Oh ok so we make it girls against boys?"

"It's on!"

Oliver was face palming himself he couldn't believe this. Yes he wanted Felicity there for his birthday but it was supposed to be fun now it was going to be a night of competition and both his best friend and the girl he was in love with were loath to lose to the other. After Felicity left Oliver and Tommy went to the large attic and looked for all the old consoles and played old games. The fact that it took them longer than they would care to admit to get onto the second level of any game they tried was embarrassing.

For the next few days until the 'competition' the boys practiced playing any and all games they could find. It got to the point that Tommy stayed in Oliver's room so they could practice all the time. They had their meals in Oliver's room, the whole household found it funny that Felicity instilled so much fear in the two young men.

Saturday night rolled around and the living room had enough food to feed an army but that was being ignored because of the intense competition going on. Felicity was in the zone, she'd already beat Oliver and Tommy once, Laurel had beaten Tommy but lost to Oliver, Thea lost to both of her brothers but only by a couple of points much to Tommy and Oliver's fright! Felicity was on her second game with Oliver and he was struggling to keep up and it was only a racing game. Oliver couldn't understand Felicity was so uncoordinated in real life but in the game she was a master, he thought she would be great at the old fashioned platform games and maybe some that needed a little more brain power but racing? He thought he'd have a chance at this one but obviously not.

"IN YOUR FACE QUEEN!"

"You know you should learn how to win graciously!"

"Why? This is probably the only time I will be able to beat either you and Tommy and I'm going to 'milk' it for everything it's worth!"

"Well I have a new deal, for the rest of the night I accept that you will beat me so can we please forget the bet that my idiot friend over there made?"

"Hmmmmm, only if you two still keep your promises from earlier?"

Tommy and Oliver and looked at each other and had a silent conversation that took two seconds, they turned to Felicity and nodded their heads. The girls squealed in delight! The boys had to take the girls to any chick flick movie they wanted to see until they left for college and any age appropriate film for Thea, and Oliver had to bake them a chocolate cake. Laurel had to drive Oliver around for a week and Tommy had to go shopping with her several times. Thea had to fetch and carry anything for Tommy and Oliver for a weekend. All in all it was a good birthday, Oliver loved sharing it with the people, apart from his parents, most important to him. They ended up sleeping in the living room, Raisa had made sure there were enough sleeping bags for everyone even though Oliver and Tommy insisted the girls had the sofas. Felicity used her loud voice to tell them even though it was a sweet thought they would be sleeping on the floor with them.

"What are you wearing?" Thea asked

"Pyjamas!" replied Felicity

She was wearing a pair with the logo on it in all different colours.

"I have a thing for Clark Kent but there are no Clark Kent pyjamas so these are the closest I could get!"

"Clark Kent?" Oliver asked

"Yeah, there's something about him with his glasses and the whole secret identity thing, the fact that he's in love with Lois Lane and he could easily have her but he wants her to love him for him not his powers…"

"Awww that's so romantic!" chimed Thea

Oliver and Tommy looked at each other and shook their heads.

"You just don't get it yet, wait until there is someone you like…" Felicity started " …and you have to like the from afar, then you'd understand!"

Oliver had his head down while Tommy and Laurel looked at him, Thea was oblivious as was Felicity!

"Wow this cake is absolutely GORGEOUS! How did you get Raisa to make it for you?" Felicity asked

"She didn't I did it myself!"

"Seriously?" Laurel asked

"RAISA!"

They all waited until the much loved housekeeper came into the kitchen.

"Yes Master Oliver?"

"Who made the chocolate cake?" Oliver asked

"Why you did Master Oliver. This is your third attempt…"

"Thanks Raisa."

Oliver bent and kissed her cheek, even though she was the hired help both Queen children though of her as another mother.

"Third attempt?" Felicity asked

"Yeah there were kind of er issues with the first two tries…" said a red faced Oliver

"What happened?" Laurel asked

"Well Ollie thought he knew better than the recipe book and once managed to measure out all the ingredients, which took so much longer than necessary, he thought he didn't need to follow the instructions when it said mix on a slow speed …"

"Oh, OH!" exclaimed Felicity

"… exactly the mixture went EVERYWHERE, Ollie was covered in flour, sugar and butter. I just happened to have my phone with me so I took a few photos…"

"Oh please send them to me?" begged Felicity

"Me too!" Tommy said

"Don't forget me!" Laurel chimed in

"Okay, that was the first one what happened to the last one?" Tommy asked

"Well you would have thought that he would have learnt his lesson from the first attempt but no! So after cleaning up the kitchen because Raisa threatened to leave if he didn't sort out the mess straight away and after having a shower Ollie managed to mix the mixture, without any problems, and place it in the oven however you know my lovely brother is not the most patient of people so he turned the oven on high!"

"Oh my…even I know you follow the instructions in the book and I have never baked one thing!" declared Tommy

"Well third times the charm, it turned out okay if I do say so myself." Said Oliver

"I love you… this cake I said this cake right?" Felicity said as she looked around Tommy and Laurel had their mouths full with cake, Thea was sitting there with a dreamy look on her face and Oliver was getting drinks out of the fridge so had his back to her. She sighed very loudly thinking she got away with it even though everyone had heard it and she was bright red.

Felicity's photo of Oliver covered in flour was her alert on her phone for whenever Oliver called. She loved that photo.


	7. Chapter 7 Acceptance

A/N:

1\. I'm not American so my understanding of the college (university) system is what I know from TV programmes and films.

2\. This is fiction please remember that while reading.

Chapter 7 Acceptance

"So did you get your acceptance letter for Starling U?"

Oliver shifted in his seat uncomfortably before he looked at his dad.

"Erm…no."

"No? But your grades have improved a lot, you've turned yourself around, how could they not give you a place, that's a disgrace well you're too good…"

"Dad I didn't get a place because I didn't apply."

There was silence Oliver didn't know what to do he'd never seen his father like this before.

"What?" Robert asked quietly

"I didn't apply, I applied to other colleges instead."

"Which colleges?"

Oliver handed his dad two envelopes and Robert took them and noticed the logos. He opened the envelopes and pulled out the letters and was so surprised he had to sit down before he fell down.

"You got into Harvard?"

"Yeah. I didn't think it was a possibility but Felicity told me to try for any colleges I wanted to go to because if I didn't I would always wonder so I did and she helped me with the essays and I got in."

"Why did you choose Harvard? Is it because a certain tutor will be going to MIT?"

"That wasn't the sole reason, yes it was a factor but I didn't think I had a chance so I was going to go somewhere that's different to Starling to get away and just be me instead of the 'party son of the city'. I was just as surprised as you when I opened the envelope to see I got a place."

"I'm proud of you son. You have worked so hard since the summer and it has paid off. You can achieve anything that you put your mind to. So what will you be studying?"

"Well, I've discovered I have a knack for languages and it will never hurt to be able to speak various languages and that will be in addition to some business classes."

Robert's eyebrows were high near his hairline due to the surprise.

"Business? Really?"

"Yeah, I think I need to start to learn about the business…"

"Oliver you know I want you to be happy and it doesn't mean you have to take over QC if you don't want to…"

"I know, I just think with the languages I'll get the best of both worlds; plus I won't be taking over for years; if I decide I want to and you think I'm suitable; so there's plenty of time to see how things develop! Plus Walter would be great if things don't work out with me. In fact he should be the next CEO and if I'm worthy then I could take over."

"Well, this is a cause for celebration! Let's invite Tommy, his dad, Laurel, her dad, Sara, Felicity and her mom, if she isn't working, for dinner!"

Everyone managed to attend the dinner. Felicity got into MIT, like there was any doubt, Tommy and Laurel both got into Yale. All the parents were so proud of their children.

The next day Felicity was called into Robert Queen's office at QC.

"Felicity please have a seat."

Felicity sat but was very nervous, this seemed like a summons but she hadn't done anything wrong at least nothing she could think of.

"I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work with my son. The change in him is amazing and that's all down to you…"

"Mr Queen, its sweet of you to say so but it was all down to Oliver, he's bright and he finally put his mind to his studies and he proved to everyone that he's not just a pretty face. He deserves all the credit!"

"Well I still believe, as does his mother, and Oliver himself he wouldn't be heading to Harvard if you were not tutoring him and encouraging him. So thank you and here's your cheque liked I promised. You fulfilled your side of the deal. Again I can't thank you enough!"

Robert handed her a cheque and she sat there staring at it. At one point it became bleary because of her tears. Robert's phone began to ring and he answered it and turned his back on Felicity, he didn't notice when she left his office but when he looked down at his desk he saw the cheque, Felicity had left it there deliberately. Robert was shocked but he had a wide smile on his face and hoped his son wouldn't make the biggest mistake of his life.

The next day Felicity found Mr Merlyn at her front door.

"Mr Merlyn how can I help you?"

"Well I heard that you turned down the money from Robert and I'm here to offer to pay for you to go to MIT!"

Felicity was so shocked.

"Erm may I ask why?"

"Well, you helped Tommy improve his grades in History and Math and with your help he was able to be accepted at Yale! I don't think that would have happened without your input…"

"Thank you Mr Merlyn however Tommy worked hard himself and deserves all the praise and thank you for the kind, very kind offer but I will have to decline, I'll apply for a scholarship and get student loans. I'll find a way!"

Malcolm knew when to push and when to step back and he could see the stubborn set of her jaw so knew she would not accept his offer. Not ten minutes later there was another knock at her door and she was surprised to find Robert Queen at her door.

"Mr Queen, did you car pool with Mr Merlyn?"

"Excuse me?"

"He was here a few minutes ago."

"Oh well, no. I came to find out why you left the cheque."

"I can't in good confidence take it…"

"May I ask why?"

"I broke one of the terms of the contract."

Felicity was avoiding eye contact.

"Felicity please look at me…"

Felicity looked at him and she knew he knew.

"Did something happen between you and Oliver?"

Felicity shook her head.

"So why can you not accept the money? He was accepted into Harvard. He actually enjoys studying and is keen on studying languages and business, that's all down to you!"

"I fell for him, that wasn't part of the conditions…"

"The conditions stipulated that you wouldn't get involved…"

"I've fallen in love with him, I'm pretty sure that's crossing every line!"

"…but nothing happened between you two…"

"That's not the point, my heart got involved and you didn't want that just because we never did anything, not that Oliver would want to with me anyway, doesn't change the fact that I'm in love with Oliver Queen and it wouldn't be right!"

Robert left without another word and went straight home.

"Oliver!"

Oliver came to his father's study.

"Can you do me a favour please?"

"Of course, what do you want me to do?"

"Take this envelope to Felicity's and open it and read it when you get there!"

Oliver gave his dad a puzzled look but reluctantly took the envelope.

"Ollie can I go with you?" Thea asked

"NO!" Robert stated

Both Oliver and Thea looked at their dad. Oliver left and found himself in front of Felicity's door. She opened it after he knocked.

"Oliver what are you doing here?"

Oliver shrugged.

"I'm here to deliver something to you but I have to open it."

"Huh?!"

"My thoughts exactly but I have my instructions, can I come in?"

"Oh, of course, sorry."

They were in the living room and Oliver opened the envelope and his eyes opened wide. He couldn't believe what he was seeing and blinked a few time to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He looked at Felicity and just stared at her.

"Well? What does it say? Oliver? Hello Oliver?"

"Hmm?"

"Oliver what does it say? You know I hate mysteries!"

"Erm its instructions that I have to follow if I want to go to college!"

"WHAT?!"

"If I want to go to Harvard I have to do something…"

"So just do it!"

"Erm if I do it I'm afraid you're going to slap me again!"

At Felicity's puzzled look Oliver showed her the note and watched as her eyes widened.

' _If you want to go to Harvard then kiss Felicity, the original deal is already null and void, if you two decide to become an item then you BOTH have my blessings.'_

Felicity was shocked to say the least, it implied that Oliver also had feelings for her.

"Well you worked incredibly hard to get into Harvard it would be a waste if you didn't go…"

Oliver snapped his eyes to hers and saw the smirk on her face and he smiled and slowly leaned towards her. It seemed to take forever for their lips to meet but when it did, fireworks were an understatement! They broke apart and both had silly grins on their faces and moved towards each other again. Felicity wrapped her arms around Oliver's neck and ran her fingers through the short hair at the base of his head much to his delight, he groaned in appreciation while he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her towards him and they kissed thoroughly!

Once they pulled apart they smiled at each other again and Oliver rested his forehead on hers.

"So…"

"So…"

Felicity took one of Oliver's hands and started to play with it.

"Erm we're not going to become one of those annoying couples who are always kissing in front of everyone are we? I mean I don't think I like PDAs"

"Felicity" Oliver said as he raised her chin "We are going to take things really slow so you don't have to worry about a thing. Ok?"

Felicity sighed in relief and nodded her head and Oliver kissed her forehead. From that day they were closer. They would hold hands and they would sit close to each other. They would kiss each other on the cheek well Felicity would kiss Oliver on the cheek and Oliver would kiss her on the forehead. They would only kiss when they were alone or when they thought they were by themselves. Everyone caught them at some point but they knew they were a couple it was just that Felicity was very self-conscious and didn't want to be labelled as a 'Queenie' those who became a bed mate of Oliver's. They spent a number of nights at the Queen mansion with Tommy, Laurel and Thea having numerous slumber parties where they would have a huge amount of food and just watch films all night. Oliver and Felicity would always fall asleep in each other's arms on one sofa as did Tommy and Laurel on another and Thea had the third to herself.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Part of the following chapter describes a sexual assault. I don't think it is graphic but you may want to bypass this chapter if you may be distressed by the story.**

Chapter 8 Carter Bowan

The doorbell rang and Raisa happened to be in the foyer so she opened the door to a tall, dark handsome man.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I was told that Felicity Smoak is here, may I see her please?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible you will have to try another time, please phone to make an appointment before coming. Thank you."

Raisa made a move to close the door when the man stopped this from happening by putting his foot in the way.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but I am not leaving this property until I see Felicity…"

"Raisa is everything ok?" Robert asked

"This gentleman will not take no for an answer and is demanding to see Miss Felicity…"

"Who may you be?" Robert asked the man

Before the man could answer there was a loud squeal.

"DIGGLE!" screeched Felicity

She ran to the man, with Oliver, Thea, Moira and Tommy following behind her. What they all saw shocked them. Felicity jumped into the man's arms and he was holding her as if she was a toddler, she was on his right hip and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. They all watched as he whispered words to her and she snuggled into him and he kissed her forehead.

The man looked at Oliver and Tommy who were standing next to each other.

"Which of you is Oliver?"

Oliver puffed up his chest.

"I am!"

They all watched while this man made his way to Oliver with Felicity still in his arms and drew his left arm back and punched Oliver in the face. Everyone just stood there too shocked to do anything.

Oliver was in shock, the man had an iron fist, and he'd never been punched so hard in his life. He nearly fell to the floor but managed to keep to his feet.

"WHAT THE HELL? WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Oliver demanded

Everyone demanded an explanation and they were all talking at the same time.

"Seriously? After what that b $* %d did to Felicity that was bad enough, you should have killed him but what he threatened to do to your sister, Thea is it? All he ended up with was a few bruises…"

At the mention of the youngest Queen Child everyone went silent.

"Thea please take our guest to have some breakfast!"

"Only if he will carry me like he's carrying Felicity!"

"THEA!"

"Thea!"

"Thea!"

Her parents and brother were shocked by her demand.

"Well Felicity is 16 and he's carrying her like a toddler. Have you seen his arms? They're wider than my whole body! The guy is strong! Ollie you should get some muscles like that, you don't carry me anymore because you're not strong enough and dad's too old now…"

"HEY!"

"Excuse me?"

Oliver and Robert both said at the same time.

"Well it's true!"

"As nice as this is you don't seem too upset by the news this morning?"

Everyone looked at him as if he was nuts.

"Seriously, is there no TV in this massive mansion?"

"We haven't had time to watch anything yet…" Robert stated

Diggle looked around.

"You may not have but your staff have, why do you think they're protective of Thea?"

The elder members of the family looked around and saw the stranger was right there was more staff than normal and they seemed to be close to Thea.

"Thea take our guest to dining room for breakfast right now!"

Thea stood there with her arms folded in that stubborn Queen way. Diggle looked to Robert who nodded his head. With Felicity still in his arms he bent down and Thea wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. They all watched as the three left the room.

"What the hell is going on? What is this about Thea?" Robert asked the staff

Before anyone could answer there was a throat clearing. They all turned around to see Laurel and her father standing at the door. It looked they rushed there as soon as possible, they just threw their coats over their pyjamas.

"You have to promise to stay calm…"

"Tell us now what that man was talking about before I go and see the news!" Robert demanded

"Apparently from 6 am this morning all the broadcasters were hacked and they all showed a video and it's on a loop…"

"What sort of video?" Oliver whispered

Lance looked at Oliver and tried to show him some sympathy.

"It was a video of what happened to Felicity…"

Oliver made his hands into fists, they were still sore but he really wanted to punch something.

"WHAT?!"

"It was of Carter…"

"Tell me or I'll go and watch it now!"

"It was of Carter and it showed clearly that he placed Felicity on her bed and he…he began to undress her…she was completely out of it… he took her top off and her bra… he bragged about tricking her into taking the drugged bottle of water which is how he got her…she couldn't move but she knew what was happening to her, you saw tears run down her cheeks then he said some things…."

"What did he say?" Oliver asked quietly

Lance looked to Robert, Moira and Tommy, they all moved towards Oliver in support. Robert nodded his head as if to give his permission for Lance to carry on. Lance took a deep breath and continued telling the account.

"He … he said things along the lines of ' Oliver will never touch you now I'm going to be with you first', 'I don't get why everyone likes him, he gets into Harvard while I get rejected, I'm better than him at everything yet he gets into Harvard, well he won't have you, I'll have you first. Even by some miracle he still stays with you he will always know I was with you because I will rub his face in it. No one will believe you were drugged I'm Carter Bowan! Hmmm I just have to wait five years and I'll have little Queen. Thea will be so easy I'll just have to lay on the charm and she'll fall at my feet then I'll just use her whenever I want. I'm sure Ollie would love that! Maybe five years is too long to wait! I'm so much better than him!', then you see Felicity cry even harder. Then you all rush in after that and you see Oliver beating the living daylights out of Bowan and Tommy holding him back after the first few hits while Laurel covers Felicity and comforts her then Oliver goes to Felicity and picks her up and hugs her to his chest as you all leave."

The silence was deafening all the adults were still they didn't know what to do. Oliver moved suddenly into the living room and everyone followed apart from Laurel who couldn't stand to watch it again. They all watched as Oliver switched the TV on and they saw the video, Oliver, Laurel, Tommy and of course Felicity still had nightmares of that night, which is why they all stayed at the mansion since it happened, Laurel only went home the night before, even Donna stayed at the mansion. The fact that Lance had sugar coated the whole thing was stunning, the video was much worse than they anticipated.

After watching it Oliver left the room and he was going to leave the mansion but Lance got to the door first.

"You can't do anything Oliver!"

Oliver looked at him.

"DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID? It's bad enough he attacked Felicity because of me he's now 'waiting' for Thea! You want me to 'let it go?' I don't think so, I should have finished what I started, I should have killed him…"

"Robert, some help here would be nice!"

"I think my son has the right idea!"

"ROBERT!" Lance shouted

Lance looked and he saw no one was on his side he could see both Robert and Tommy 'helping' Oliver and he would have sworn that Moira would have held their coats for them. He was trying to stop this lynching from happening, for once he hated being a police officer, when he saw the state Felicity was in those few nights before he wanted to do some serious damage himself and he knew the beating Oliver gave Carter was deserved however the 'Bowan' name had a lot of power and he was made to arrest Oliver. Since seeing the video that morning he really wanted justice and was afraid that it may not happen…

"I'll help you castrate that sorry excuse for a human being!" Diggle said as he came into the foyer

"You're not helping!" stated Lance

"Are you telling me after watching that video you don't want justice?"

"That's not the point, where's Thea?"

"She's still having breakfast with your daughter and Felicity!"

"I don't care what happens to me, no one messes with Felicity and Thea. Move aside. NOW!"

"NO! You're better than this…"

Oliver was going to physically move Lance when a pair of arms moved around his waist, he knew those arms anywhere, he held onto them.

"Oliver, please don't leave, he's not worth it. He is so jealous of you; you'll be doing what he wants you to. Please stay here."

Oliver turned around to face Felicity.

"He hurt you, he threatened Thea. I can't let him get away with that…"

"Oliver everyone has seen you beat the crap out of him, he'll never live it down. Even though we may not get justice in the courts do you really think he'll be able to stay here? He has sisters and nieces; do you really think his family will cover this up? They can't, he'll never be rid of it!"

"When did you remember? About the computer?"

"It was yesterday, Thea was talking about what she would like for her Sweet Sixteen and that triggered something in my mind and…"

"Why you had to use my computer yesterday?"

Felicity nodded.

"You made sure everyone would see it…" Oliver stated

"If it helps others to be more vigilant then it's worth it! Please don't leave, I don't think you would look good in orange. I'd visit you every week but I'd rather go on dates with you every week instead! Think of Thea, she'll need her big brother when she starts to date! You won't be much use if you're locked away!"

"Seriously? Using Thea against me? That's low!" Oliver sighed knowing Felicity won her argument

"Remember one thing, you are worth a hundred, no a thousand of that sorry excuse for a human. You haven't been watching the news have you?"

At Oliver's look Felicity carried on.

"I mean before today?"

Oliver shook his head.

"Well since you were so publicly arrested a lot of your old 'lady friends' went to the press and told them that you're a decent guy, that you would never hurt someone just for the sake of it, in fact they said that you would only turn violent if someone had mistreated someone. I doubt very much that 'shithead' will have anyone defending him. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of girls will come out and make accusations about him…"

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked

Felicity shrugged her shoulders.

"As awful as this sounds I don't think I was the first. If you look at the video…" Felicity was blood red at this point "… don't you think he seemed too confident? How did he know that a few sips would … would … work? And the first time he tries it he just happens to have his laptop with him? I only looked for the latest video I really don't want to see what else is on that thing…"

Oliver hugged her.

"You won't have to, leave that to the police." Lance declared

"You couldn't pay me enough to do your job Mr Lance." Tommy said

"Ollie, please don't go to jail. Supposing the bad man comes for me? Who will protect me?" said a tearful Thea who was pulling on Oliver's shirt

Oliver just gave Felicity a look.

"What?"

"Seriously, you told her to do that!"

"How could I? I was right here!"

"Felicity those are not real tears I can smell the onion!"

"Did it work?"

"That's not the point you're not supposed to use my younger sister!"

"But you and Tommy used to take her to the park so you could get dates!"

"WHAT?"

"EXCUSE ME?"

Moira and Robert exclaimed.

"Oops was that supposed to be a secret?" Felicity asked a little too innocently

At the same time Robert's, Tommy's and Quentin's phones started to ring, they answered them.

Malcolm wanted to make sure Felicity was ok, he knew what had happened but had the unfortunate experience of seeing that video and wanted to double check to see if the Queen's or Smoaks needed anything and ordered Tommy to get anything that was wanted.

Quentin received a call from the DA stating that Carter Bowan was at the police station giving a statement of what he did, also there were 50 women aged from 16 to 19 that wanted to make a complaint against Carter. Quentin was also told to let Oliver Queen know that the charges have been dropped.

Robert was talking to William Bowan who apologised profusely for the actions of his son. William had told his son to confess everything or be disowned from the whole of the family if he refused. William told Robert that there was no way he and his family could make it up to him or his family or those who are coming forward now.

"So how do you know Felicity?" Oliver asked Diggle

"She tutored me. I really wanted to go to West Point and the academic side was not my strongest point so she helped me!"

"How old was she when she helped you out?"

"11! She could have attended college then but Donna was slightly worried about her going to college at such a young age. She's my little sister and I'm just letting you know that if you hurt her your family will never find your body!"

"Oh you don't need to worry about that, if he hurts Felicity then we'll be the ones hiding his body! Won't we Oliver?"

"Yes dad!" Oliver turned to look at Diggle "He's not joking!"

"Good neither am I!"

"Hey Felicity, where's your mom?"

"She's working extra shifts to earn more money so we can move she doesn't want to stay in the house anymore."

"You could stay at our place." Diggle suggested

"That's sweet but I'm not going to let the creep scare me out of my home. I just have to convince my mom of that though!"

"We offered to help her but she refused, she said that she could get another place for them…" Oliver explained

"Oliver we don't need your money. Our place is fine, my mom is a little freaked out that's all!"

"Are you telling me that you want to sleep in your bedroom? Because I have to say, you're staying here but you look like crap!" Diggle commented

"Gee, thanks for the compliment! Obviously it's going to be hard but I will not let him drive us out of our home that we've had since I can remember, he's not taking that from me! Everyone's been great I can't seem to stay in a bedroom so I end up sleeping down here and Oliver, Thea, Tommy and Laurel, when she stayed here, also slept down here with me. I'm still a little jumpy but I'm getting there!"

"Hmmm."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Felicity asked

"Nothing, so are you going to show me around or am I only allowed in the dining room and foyer?" Diggle asked

"C'mon then…" Felicity started

"Oh I was hoping the prince could show me around, you know so we could have a chat one brother to another?"

Diggle eyed Oliver and Oliver agreed and they left everyone else there.

"Hey, what am I? I'm a brother as well!" declared Tommy

"I'm pretty sure you do not want to be part of that conversation!" Robert said

The next day Thea wanted to bake some cupcakes and wanted Felicity to help so the two got to work in the kitchen. Thea had an idea to make 36 cupcakes and she wanted different flavours and decorations.

Meanwhile Oliver, Tommy, Diggle, Laurel and Donna were at the house and were getting ready to decorate or redecorate Felicity's room. They thought that if it looked different then she wouldn't remember the attack as vividly. Donna packed up all of Felicity's belongings the night before with the help of Diggle, they then went to stay at the mansion, Diggle was an unofficial member of the family now, The wardrobe, desk and chest of drawers were taken out of the room, the bed was dumped and a new one was bought, no one wanted Felicity to keep the same bed and Donna wanted to set fire to it but the others managed to dissuade her of that particular idea. The 'men' were painting the walls a light lilac colour and there was going to be a feature wall. The whole layout of the room was changing. Donna and Laurel were going to recondition the furniture. Both Malcolm and Robert offered to have painters and decorators come into do the job but Oliver, Diggle and Donna refused, they wanted to do this for Felicity. It took the majority of the day and they were tired by the end. They managed to finish all the painting and the feature wall all that was left to do was arrange the furniture and that would be a job for the next day.

They all went back to the mansion for dinner and sleep. As was usual, Felicity, Oliver, Tommy, Diggle, Laurel and Thea slept in the living room. They made a slumber party out of it. Sometimes one of them would have a nightmare and whimper during their sleep. More often than not the others would wake up and switch the TV on and watch part of an episode or film before they all fell into a more undisturbed sleep.

The next day Raisa was making a picnic and requested Felicity's and Thea's help. The others went back to the house and finished getting Felicity's room ready. It was a more grown up room. There were little touches that would make her smile, a Tardis lamp, a Hogwarts school scarf and her beloved X-Files thermos.

Diggle had the job of collecting Felicity from the mansion, she was a bit perturbed by the situation as she hadn't really left the mansion since the incident. She reluctantly went with Thea and Diggle. Felicity did become agitated when she saw her home but she took a deep breath and left the car. She was shocked to see everyone else there.

"Felicity baby, your friends and I have a little surprise for you. I know you don't want that 'sick bastard' pardon my French Thea, to win and I know you don't want to run away but there was no way I was going to let you stay in that room after what happened but Oliver and Diggle convinced me otherwise so we … well it may be better for you to see it for yourself."

Felicity took Oliver's hand and together they walked up the stairs with the others following behind. Felicity hesitated at her door but after a minute she took a deep breath and turned the handle and pushed the door open and she gasped. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She walked into the middle and slowly spun around and there were tears running down her face, then each of them received a trademark hug from Felicity. She loved her room. It wouldn't be easy for her to become her usual confident self again, if ever but with her friends and family she'll have the best support available. Both Robert and Malcolm insisted on all the kids apart from Thea, as she wasn't a witness, to speak to someone about the incident and organised appointments both individual and group to help the youngsters. In time the nightmares stopped or at the very least decreased in their frequency.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Deception

Oliver walked into the board room of QC, he was late, he looked as if he just woke up. His shirt was hanging out, there was no tie, his shirt was unbuttoned at the top and his sleeves were rolled up. Robert and Walter were shocked by his lateness as well as unkemptness. Neither said anything verbally but the lift of an eyebrow said a lot!

"Was there an issue arriving on time today Oliver?"

Oliver looked at his father with a puzzled look and replied.

"Nope!"

Oliver sat down on a chair and slouched down to get comfortable. He took his phone out and started to use it, it seemed as if he was texting and or playing games.

"Oliver I would like to introduce you to Mr Kobayashi and his translator David Sato."

Oliver looked up from his phone for a moment to look at the visitors.

"Hey! How ya doing?"

Robert and Walter had their mouths open. Oliver went back to his phone. Mr Kobayashi seemed unmoved until David whispered something then a look of dislike crossed his face for a second to be replaced by a bland look.

Walter and Robert were in negotiations to strike a deal with Mr Kobayashi and the official signing was due to take place there and then.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaad, why am I here? I could be still in bed!"

"Oliver!"

"What? He doesn't understand me that's why he has a translator, Dave works for you so he's not going to say anything, are you Dave? Why can't he speak English? It would make everything so much easier, everyone speaks it! There's no need to learn other languages, you know I'm useless when it comes to languages!"

Oliver noticed 'Dave' cringing at the use of the nickname each and every time. Robert and Walter relaxed slightly although you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if you didn't know them but Oliver did and the fact that his father was rubbing his thumb and index fingers together and Walter every so often would touch his left ear meant they were stressed or pretending to be, Oliver had to give it to them they kept up the charade.

Oliver's phone made a noise alerting him to a text, he sprang up and went out the huge glass doors of the boardroom and stopped in just the line of sight of everyone in the room. Once he was outside he met with a blonde woman who was wearing the shortest skirt that was appropriate for work, just, her shirt was open that you could see more than you needed to, her hair was high up in a ponytail and she was wearing the highest heels and she had an annoying giggle. All eyes in the boardroom were on the couple outside, they didn't see the woman pass a usb device to Oliver. If either Oliver or the lady looked around they wouldn't have been able to keep straight faces as Walter, Robert and David had their mouths open in shock, well Robert and Walter were, they'd never seen Felicity like this before and she looked like every cliché of a hanger on including the annoying giggle. David on the other hand seemed transfixed by her and had a lustful look on his face that if Oliver saw would result in an arrow finding its way into David. Mr Kobayashi just looked on with an impassive face. They all watched as Oliver and 'the blonde' kissed openly in front of everyone.

"Oh Mr Queen! Maybe you could show me how to…"

The others couldn't hear what was said at the end because Felicity leaned up to Oliver's ear and whispered something. Oliver laughed and as Felicity turned to leave he patted her on the butt. Felicity turned and blew him a kiss and giggled. Oliver entered the boardroom again. The others were just staring at him. His demeanour was different instead of the 'lazy playboy' they met earlier here was a confident man that meant business. Oliver stood by his seat faced Mr Kobyashi and bowed. He straightened up after a while and began speaking fluent Japanese much to the surprise of 'Dave' but surprisingly enough not to Mr Kobyashi. Obviously Robert and Walter knew of Oliver's linguistics' skills and knew he had something up his sleeve but as Oliver was speaking there were images on the screen in front of them, images that showed Dave was not loyal to either QC or Mr Kobyashi. In fact there were a number of photos, taken over months, of Dave with a certain Mr Darkh. The photos seemed very 'friendly'. Then some bank statements came up and Dave seemed to have supplemented his QC salary with $25 000 a month from Darkh Industries.

"This is all a lie! You made all this up you and your little tramp…"

"One, you will refer to my fiancé as Ms Smoak, if you use any derogatory remarks about her again in my hearing then you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Two, if it wasn't for Ms Smoak you would have been fired ages ago and would have been made to pay back , within a month, the cost of your college education that you received from QC.

And finally, it is due to Ms Smoak that we investigated so thoroughly, she thought maybe you had personal problems that made you go down this road with Darkh and she thought we could help you but then we found out the depth of your betrayal.

Just to make it clear we gave you the benefit of the doubt, we trusted you and you threw that away for easy money, well Darkh is welcomed to you…"

As Oliver spoke, four security personnel came in to 'escort' Dave out. Dave was blustering and thought he was fine.

"Darkh is a much better boss and he'll give me a rise. I'll be better with him any way!"

"I think you will find that you are very wrong about your assumption of Mr Darkh!" declared Mr Kobyashi in fluent English

Everyone looked at him in awe and Dave went red because he realised he was trying to play both sides but they understood what was being said all the time.

"I expect the cost of your college education to be repaid within one calendar month, you will have a week to vacate the apartment and obviously the company car stays here. Enjoy your life!"

Robert and Walter were shocked by the deception of one of their own and thought Oliver was being too generous.

"Son, why not get the police involved?"

"Dad he doesn't know what he's done, he'll realise when it's too late I don't think he should be in jail on top of everything else…"

"That sounds like Felicity talking…" Walter said

"Yeah, well we 'discussed' it a lot! And she won."

Oliver faced their visitor again and spoke in English.

"Mr Kobyahsi, we would very much like to continue with this partnership however if you feel after this development that you would like to rethink it then we would understand."

"Mr Queen this is not your fault, however I too was a little suspicious of our mutual translator and also investigated him and found the same things you did, if it was not dealt with in this meeting then I would have let you know and left without signing the contract."

Oliver smiled and relaxed.

"We do have one condition we want to add to the contract, could we discuss it now?"

"Of course."

"Well, we are happy with everything however Oliver would like to add something, Oliver?"

"Well, you may be aware of our scholarships?"

Mr Kobayshi nodded.

"We would like to have a similar programme in Japan. It will start off small so mainly for employees of Kobayshi Industries and then eventually expanding to local schools…"

"Mr Queen it seems as if we are on the same page. I too was hoping to add an amendment to the contract and it was with the hope of starting a scholarship programmed like you have successfully done here in Starling City and everywhere where there is a branch of QC. You have a legacy that you can be proud of…"

"Well Ms Smoak started it and we continue with it."

"Speaking of Ms Smoak, would it be possible to speak to her please?"

"Of course, just a minute."

Oliver sent a quick message on his phone. Five minutes later Felicity was entering the boardroom and she looked very different, the skirt was longer by a few inches, she was in flats and her hair was in her usual pony tail not the one she had earlier. Felicity said hello in Japanese and received a smile in response.

"I am glad to finally meet you two."

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other and back again.

"Mr Queen, you were very generous to my nephew one day and he has never forgotten that. Once he found out about our prospective business arrangement he wanted me to sign the contract straightaway, he knew you were honourable. There was a young boy on his first date with the girl who he was interested for ages and she finally agreed to go out with him only if it was a typical American date, you see the young man was very rich and used to girls falling for him and the family were concerned that he was going down the wrong road and decided to send him here to the states to study where no one knew him and it was quite a shock for him, on this date he forgot his wallet but only realised when at the end of the meal and then a waiter at Big Belly Burger happened to 'find' my nephew's wallet, it wasn't his but the fact that he could how do you say 'save face' meant so much to him. He paid for the meal using the money from the wallet that didn't belong to him and the date knew what happened but didn't mention it. The next day my nephew returned to the restaurant and returned your wallet with the money he 'borrowed' and with extra as a tip. I remember him phoning his parents, I was at their house, and telling them about the kindness of a complete stranger. I am happy to say that he and the girl are still together, in fact they are planning on getting married as well! Thank you!"

Oliver was stunned, he remembered that day. He felt sorry for the guy, he reminded him of him before Felicity came into his life. He was surprised to find the wallet in his locker with extra money and a 'thank you' note in it the next day.

"Wow! Talk about a small world!"

"Well it is even smaller than you think. Ms Smoak, we have a mutual 'friend'…"

Felicity looked totally confused.

"…I came to find you earlier to deliver something but found you two were 'busy'."

Both of them had the grace to blush.

"I knew there was something going on as I saw you earlier and neither of you were dressed like I saw you. I'm glad my nephew and our mutual friend were not mistaken about you two. Ms Smoak I promised to deliver this to you."

Mr Kobayahi's bodyguard gave him a box which he passed to Felicity. She took it and carefully opened it, she was still confused by this.

When she opened the box she gasped out loud and looked up to find Mr Kobayashi smiling.

"Oliver, this is for you. It's an early birthday present…"

"Felicity my birthday isn't for months…"

"Yes, but there is no way that I will be able to keep this a secret, so you're getting it now!"

Oliver looked into the box and was awed by what he saw, a traditional katana, he took it out slowly, he was really into his martial arts and archery and became interested in the while in Harvard.

"Felicity, I can't accept this, it looks like it's a family heirloom!"

"WHAT!" screeched Felicity

"Ms Smoak, the original StarTrek lunchbox you found for our friend is a treasured possession and when they found out you wanted a katana for your fiancé it was as you Americans say 'a no brainer'. Our friend considers you as family so you are entitled to it!"

"Will I ever meet your…"

"Ms Smoak, what makes you think you haven't already?"

"Oh come on! Give me some clues. I hate mysteries! Please?"

Mr Kobayashi shook his head. Oliver, Robert, Walter and Digg were busy admiring the katana.

"Please thank your mutual friend, it is a gorgeous piece and I am very grateful that they consider Felicity family. I will treasure it. Thank you!" said Oliver

"I also have a message for you Mr Queen.

'There is no where you can hide! Felicity is family now, if you hurt her you will become intimate with the katana!'"

"Mr Kobayashi, no offence but if I was stupid enough to hurt Felicity your mutual friend is the least of my problems, my more immediate ones are in this room with plus the additions of my mother, sister, best friend – who's pretty much my brother and my future mother-in-law to name a few! So your mutual friend will have to get into line!"

Felicity rolled her eyes while all the men nodded their heads agreeing with Oliver.


	10. Chapter 10 - Prom

Chapter 10 – Prom

"Hey Felicity, so will you go to prom with me?" Oliver asked

Felicity opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before responding.

"Oh Oliver, I …I …I'm really s…s…sorry but the whole 'p…p…prom' thing isn't my s….s….scene. Why d…d…don't you go with T…T….Tommy and Laurel? Thanks for asking anyway!"

Oliver couldn't believe his ears, he assumed Felicity would love to go to prom with him. He watched her as she talked and he very much doubted that she knew that when she lied she went bright red and stuttered, so he knew that his girlfriend had just lied to him but he couldn't understand why.

A few days later…

"C'mon Speedy you wanted to drop off these brownies for Felicity!"

"I'm coming! I hope she likes them."

"Of course she will!"

The arrived at Felicity's home and were about to ring the bell when they heard the conversation from inside, neither Smoak woman could be described as quiet and the windows were also open.

"So has Oliver asked you to Prom yet?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you seem happy about it? You've been looking forward to Prom for ages especially since you and Oliver became an item."

"I told him I couldn't go with him."

"Why? Did he expect too much after Prom?"

At Felicity's blank look, Donna elaborated.

"You know what usually happens on Prom night, between couples and a hotel room…"

"NO! MOM! Oliver would never assume something like that…"

"So if that's not it, what is?" asked a baffled Donna

"The tickets cost $200 then I have to buy a dress and shoes to match plus there'll be a party afterwards at a club and to get in will cost another $100. I can't afford that."

"But honey, Oliver's…"

"Mom, don't even think about finishing that sentence! I'm not with him because of his money and I'm not going to tell him about it either. I don't want him to think for one moment that I care more about his money than him. It's only a couple of hours one night. It'll be fine. I'll make a night of it, I'll watch all the teen films on that night, it'll be fun!"

Donna didn't believe the false cheer Felicity was trying to convey.

"Honey I could help you out with the cost…"

"Mom, that's sweet, I have enough money to cover the cost from my previous tutoring jobs but I don't want to spend it all on one night. I'm going to need new clothes for college, plus books and if I can manage it a new laptop, they will last me longer than a few hours!"

"I could get a loan?"

"NO! We're not going into debt for Prom, mom I'll be fine. Plus it will be nice for Oliver to spend time with his friends…"

Oliver and Thea were outside listening and Oliver felt like a complete idiot, he never had to worry about money and he just assumed everyone around him was the same. He forgot that Felicity and her mom were not independently wealthy like his, money never seemed to be an issue before because he and Tommy stopped their wild partying ways, gone were the days where they would head off to Ibiza for a weekend because they could, not that Felicity would have wanted to know them then. They spent a lot of time at either the mansion or Felicity's place doing normal 'teenage' things, watching films and box sets, playing games and surprisingly cooking or attempting to cook! Plus going to the movies, crazy golf to name a few, things that didn't cost too much money. Oliver grabbed Thea's hand and got back into the car and drove off.

"What are you gonna do Ollie?"

"I don't know! Maybe I could surprise her with a ticket for the Prom…"

Oliver chanced a glance at his sister and the look she gave him didn't give him much hope.

"Ollie, she would see through that instantly! You have to think of something. She loves you, not the Queen name, that's special! I really hope that when I fall in love it will be with someone who sees me and not someone who wants to get mom and dad's money!"

"Do you really worry about that?"

"Ollie, I may be twelve but I can probably count on one hand how many true friends I have, the rest just want to be known as my friend. They say whatever they think I want to hear. I really want to fall in love…"

At Oliver's look

"…when I'm much much older of course! But it doesn't change the fact that there are some people that are more interested in the Queen name than the person! Ollie, you need to do something, no one should have to miss their Prom because they can't afford it, it would be different if she really hated Proms but she doesn't!"

"You're right speedy! I need to think of something."

Prom night

"Felicity! Wake up honey!"

"Ughh, why?"

"I have the night off and we're going out instead!"

"How did you get Friday night off?"

"A lot of begging and pleading but Barney gave in thankfully! We're going to go have a great meal and have a great time!"

"Mom you don't need to do that!"

"I know but I want to, you can watch your movies anytime. I want you home by 5 and ready by 6, wear your favourite sundress!"

"Fine! Thanks mom!"

"Love you honey!"

"Love you too!"

4:55 pm

"I'll be ready in twenty minutes!"

Donna watched Felicity walk in and run upstairs. True to her word Felicity came down twenty minutes later. She looked wonderful in her green sundress, her hair was down and she had on matching flats.

"Wow you look wonderful honey!"

"Thanks mom, you're the best! Why is the living room door closed?"

"Well I've got a surprise for you later…"

"Can I have look now pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No you have to be patient!"

"But you know I _**hate**_ mysteries and I won't be able to enjoy dinner if I keep on thinking what's behind the door…"

"Ok, you can stop with the puppy dog look! You know it's a little pathetic that you still think that look will work on me!"

"Hey, it worked that's the main thing!"

Felicity opened the door and was surprised to find Oliver standing there in a really nice suit, including a waistcoat and tie, the jacket was on the sofa, he looked HOT, thought Felicity. She must have stood there with her mouth open for a whole minute before she felt her mom push her into the room. Felicity stumbled and Oliver caught her. She was still in shock when she thought she heard her mom call out something.

"Have fun guys and be _safe_!"

It took a few more seconds for Felicity to come out of her stupor, she shook her head.

"Oliver, what are you doing here?"

"I thought if you couldn't go to Prom then Prom would come to you!"

Felicity hugged Oliver really tightly and eventually released him and took a look at her living room. There were streamers everywhere and a table disco ball thing with flashing lights on the coffee table. Felicity looked back at Oliver and almost let the tears of happiness fall.

"You're amazing! You did this for me?"

"I wanted to spend tonight with you, whether it's here or in the grand hall of whatever hotel the Prom is in!"

"Thank you!"

"Would you care to dance?"

Oliver bowed and Felicity curtsied while giggling.

"It would be my honour!"

Oliver went over to the docking station and pressed play and 'What makes you beautiful' by One Direction started playing, Felicity again had tears in her eyes. Oliver took her hand and they began to dance. It was around the fifth dance when Felicity started to think about what her mom had said before she left, she played the words in her head again and stiffened. Oliver felt this.

"Felicity what's wrong?"

"O…Oliver did my mom …did she give you something tonight?"

Felicity watched as Oliver turned red and avoided her eyes.

"OH MY GOD! She did, didn't she?"

Oliver still couldn't look her in the eyes.

"Oliver she gave me a box as well, as soon as we became a couple she gave me 'the talk', I thought I'd never been so embarrassed in my life but this actually tops it! She gave you a box of condoms as well?"

Both of them were bright red by this time. Felicity buried her head in Oliver's chest.

"I did tell her that we didn't need them…" Oliver said

At this comment Felicity's head shot up. Oliver opened his eyes wide.

"NO! I don't mean it like that! I mean when we decide to take things further, way….way…way into the future, we WILL use protection but I tried to tell her that we, that _**that**_ wasn't on the cards tonight but she told me that she doesn't want anything to happen to her daughter, the most precious thing to her in the whole world! How can you argue with that?"

"She scared you didn't she?!"

"Hell yeah! She threatened me and she made it clear that she had my dad, Tommy's dad and Laurel's dad on her side, so yeah I'm a little worried what would happen to me if I make you cry!"

"Well then you better make sure you don't! FYI so far so good! Seriously Oliver, this was great thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it, another dance?"

"Of course!"

They danced for ages just holding onto each other, eventually they decided to watch movies for the rest of the night. Donna came back the next morning to find them both asleep on the sofa, they both had their feet on the coffee table and Felicity was wrapped around Oliver and he had an arm around her. She smiled, her daughter was loved for herself and by a decent guy, she was happy.


	11. Chapter 11 - The First Time

Chapter 11 The First time

"Felicity, where are you?" shouted Oliver

"I'm in the bedroom!"

Oliver walked into his bedroom with a confused look on his face.

"What are you doing in here?"

"What does it look like? I'm moving in!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"We've already talked about this you're not ready for this yet!"

"Oliver we've been together for over a year and we've been living together for a couple of months, well at least in the same apartment but I want to share your bed. I'm 18, I think I know what's right for me and sleeping in the same bed as you every night is it!"

"Felicity I think you're rushing into this, why don't we just carry on having separate bedrooms?"

"Because I want to wake up with you, is that so bad?"

Oliver sighed.

"No, no it isn't."

"YAY! You won't regret it!"

A week later…

Oliver came home early to find Felicity crying in bed.

"Felicity, what's wrong?"

Oliver went to comfort her and she moved away from him. Oliver was shocked.

"Felicity, please tell me what's bothering you."

"What's wrong with me?" Felicity asked hesitantly

"What do you mean?"

"Well, why don't you want to make love to me? We've shared a bed for the last week and you stick to your side of the bed as if I have a disease or something…"

Felicity started to cry in earnest. Oliver couldn't bear to see her so heartbroken, he thought he was doing the right thing, it didn't matter that he had to have a cold shower every morning and evening, he couldn't let her believe there was something wrong with her.

"Felicity, there's nothing wrong with you. It's all me!"

Felicity was looking at him and her tears managed to slow down somewhat. Her red rimmed eyes were on his she was trying to understand what he was saying. Oliver took her hand and he squeezed it slightly.

"I'm scared…"

"Oliver what could you possibly be scared of?" whispered Felicity

Oliver just looked at her with a raw look that made Felicity gulp.

"Supposing I don't live up to your expectations?..." Oliver declared with a pointed look

"…I know I'm going to be your first and I want it to be great for you but supposing you're disappointed? Supposing it's so bad; that I put you off making love for the rest of your life?"

"Oliver are you serious?"

Oliver nodded.

"Oh Oliver, there is no way you could disappoint me. I thought you weren't attracted to me at all…"

At Oliver's confused look Felicity carried on.

"…you know physically?"

Oliver's astounded face did a lot to comfort her.

"I thought maybe because you may not find me as attractive as your previous partners that you couldn't physically make love to me, I thought I made you impotent, I thought I broke Oliver Queen!"

"Oh Felicity, never! In fact I've been having cold showers twice a day since we moved in together and maybe more since we've been sharing a bed! Trust me you have not made me impotent, in fact I see to be more 'excited' nowadays, my right hand can attest to that!."

"Oliver!"

"What? You brought it up, no pun intended!"

Felicity pushed his shoulder.

"Seeing as we're having this conversation, there was an issue that has been on my mind that has me a little concerned."

Felicity furrowed her brow. Felicity squeezed Oliver's hand this time.

"I have been reluctant to make love to you…because… I'm really worried that I will remind you of… _ **him**_ …I don't want you to re-live that…"

"Oh Oliver, there is no way you could remind me of _**him**_ ever! You two are completely different, you would never stoop so low as to even think about that let alone try it! He's behind bars where he belongs and hopefully he's getting a taste of his own medicine!"

Oliver raised his eyebrows at the outburst.

"Well, it's true. I'm lucky, you got there in time. What about all those girls who weren't as lucky? You more than most saw how I was affected by the whole incident, I was jumpy around new people for a long time, even now I'm always weary, I am very careful, I find it hard to trust now. Imagine those that were not lucky, those that thought they imagined it, although why would you imagine that I do not know, he not only drugged and raped a number of girls he also took away their trust. The fact that they will find it incredibly difficult to trust people now or those he told they were consensual when he knew they weren't, he manipulated so many girls and used his name to get away with it. Now that name is dirt. Everything that his family has worked for all their lives has been ruined by him. Only his mother goes to see him, the others can't bear to acknowledge him, not after the video came out especially what he said about me and Thea, then all the others came forward. He will never be able to come back from that, well at least not in Starling!"

Oliver wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheek.

"Can we just see where this goes? I'm not saying that we have to do anything tonight but can we at least be a little affectionate?"

Oliver sighed and looked at the love of his life.

"Yeah, ok."

They got ready for bed later that night and Felicity snuggled up to Oliver.

"I'm a hugger, deal with it!" Felicity declared

Oliver laughed and kissed her forehead.

Oliver woke up to find his mouth full of blonde hair, Felicity was using his chest as a pillow and it felt good, no great. A 'hugger' was an understatement thought Oliver. One of her arms was around his chest and one of her legs was wrapped around his. She loved him sleeping shirtless, she would always place a kiss over his heart.

A week later…

Felicity woke to find herself on top of Oliver who was already awake and watching her with concern. She smiled a small slightly embarrassed smile and moved so she was by Oliver and facing him.

"Felicity…"

"Oliver, stop please. You don't have to be concerned. I'm fine!"

"But…"

"Oliver last night…was…" Felicity was trying to come up with the perfect word "…nice!"

Felicity saw Oliver's face drop and placed a hand on his cheek.

"Oliver I know 'nice' usually means 'blah' but not in this case seriously! I need to explain this. Last night, where do I begin? Look I was really nervous about last night. I know I'm the one that moved in here and I have wanted to make love with you for AGES and you know how I get, I had to do some research so I read A LOT of books to see how I could please you…"

Oliver watched as Felicity turned a deeper shade of red the longer she spoke.

"…then I watched a film or two…"

"What films?" asked a curious Oliver

"…erm a porn film or two!" said a sheepish Felicity

"Felicity!"

"What are porn films just for guys?"

"No of course not but why didn't you ask me anything?"

"Oliver, you have already been so patient with me and I know you were hesitant about taking our relationship forward and I just didn't want you to think I wasn't ready…"

"Felicity! You should be able to talk to me about anything you want.."

"Oh Oliver I know I can but I was afraid that you would see it as a reason not to make love with me and I didn't want to wait anymore!"

"Ok, I have to know what did you think of the films?"

"Erm, I didn't get it or rather them. They're very strange! I thought a film would be better than a couple's actual home video, fyi is a deal breaker with us, no way are we filming anything that belongs in the bedroom just so that's clear! It was weird I know it's all staged and everything but still maybe it wasn't the best thing to watch if you're a novice! I also looked at some magazines, they were a real eye opener, I'm glad I did though because I think they were a little more realistic but I have to say you could give some of those male models a run for their money!"

"FELICITY!"

"It's a compliment! Back to last night, I don't know how it is for guys but it's automatic that a girl's first time will be awkward and painful. Do you remember, not that I want details, your first time?"

Oliver nodded.

"Was it everything, again no details, you imagined it to be?"

Oliver shook his head.

"SEE! That's what I mean! You didn't enjoy your first time for whatever reason and you will remember that for the rest of your life, I won't have that problem. I will remember my first time not only with a guy who I love but who loves me in return instead of a one night stand or a peer pressure thing. That is something no one can take from me! I will remember feeling nervous especially thinking that you may be disappointed with my body…"

Oliver opened his mouth to speak but Felicity stopped him.

"…I didn't say it made sense but that's how I felt, then when I saw you the nervousness increased, I mean I know I've seen the pictures online but talk about not doing you justice! You're a GOD! Your body is amazing and that intimidated me a little, well a lot, then I thought back to _**him**_ and that freaked me out even more and I was going to stop everything then I looked into your wonderful blue expressive eyes. Do you know what I saw?"

Oliver shook his head.

"Your love for me, I knew in that second that if I did change my mind about making love, you wouldn't have had an issue, you wouldn't have sulked nor said a snarky comment or any other thing to make me feel bad. You would have kissed my forehead and just cuddled me instead and that in itself calmed me down more than anything. Then you placed gentle kisses on my forehead and lips and something inside me just … I don't know…felt right. After you know…"

Oliver nodded at Felicity's pointed look.

"…you held me, you held me close to your side and kissed my temple and it made me feel so 'warm and squishy' inside. I loved that! That's why it was nice. I will have a happy memory of my first time, not all women can say that. You made me feel like a queen, I mean maybe one day I'll even be a Queen, I really hope so!..."

Felicity whispered the last part much to Oliver's amusement, he knew she didn't realise she said it out aloud.

"...so nice is great in this context! Understand?"

Oliver leaned forward and kissed Felicity softly on the lips.

"Oliver, you know I'm a perfectionist right?" Felicity waited for Oliver's nod before continuing "Well, they do say 'practice makes perfect!'" Felicity waggled her eyebrows suggestively which made Oliver laugh and he kissed her.

"Oh by the way, you need to phone your dad and ask him to buy us an apartment!"

"Huh?!" said a confused Oliver

"Well either we move or last night was a one-time thing!"

"Felicity, I think we both know that you're smarter than me so you're going to have to explain that."

"Well, it's your fault!"

"Again, huh?!"

"Well, last night at the most … erm …the most 'pivotal' point?..."

Oliver nodded his head.

"…well it seems, and like I said it's totally your fault, it seems as if my loud voice is not actually my loud voice, at _**that**_ particular time my loud voice appeared and made my previous loud voice seem like a whisper, I'm surprised I didn't burst your eardrums! You made me feel … everything last night and because of you I'm sure everyone in this building heard me scream your name and because they heard me they knew what we were doing and I will never be able to face anyone here again hence why you need to phone your dad and ask him to buy a place for us preferable where there are not a lot of neighbours for us to disturb!"

"Felicity, we're not moving!"

"But Oliver…"

"Don't even try the 'puppy dog look'! We're not moving, we love this place!"

"But everyone will know what we did!"

"So?! I have no issue with that!"

"OLIVER!"

"Seriously what are you going to do? Stay in the apartment forever?"

"YES!"

"Hmmmmmm ok, so you don't want to see the new Star Trek or Star Wars films? What about trying the new Big Belly Burger? It looks like I'll have to go to the movies by myself and then have the new 'double decker bacon cheeseburger' meal!"

"You're EVIL Mr Queen! I'll get you back when you'll least expect it!"

"Oooooh I'm so scared!"

Felicity tried to glare at Oliver but they both burst into laughter and then leaned forward to kiss each other.


	12. Chapter 12 - First Argument

Chapter 12 First Argument

Felicity opened the door to see Oliver standing there.

"Oh hey Oliver. I thought we were meeting up later? Am I late? OH MY GOD I'm late! I hate being late it's the rudest thing you can do to a person is be late. I'm so sorry…"

"Felicity…"

Oliver had to put his hands on her shoulders to calm her down.

"… Felicity, you're not late. I'm early and we need to have a talk."

Felicity gave him a puzzled look.

"'We need to talk' or ' _we need to talk'_? I know they sound exactly the same but in my head they're different."

"Why don't we take a seat?"

"OK."

Felicity and Oliver went to the living room and sat on the sofa.

"So, what do we need to talk about?"

"Well, I think as we're going to college in a month's time that we should…we should…"

"Oliver, spit it out! Since when are you so hesitant?"

"…we should take a break!"

Felicity sat there for a minute before she responded before she realised what Oliver meant.

"OH, _oh_!"

"I just think it's the right thing to do. We'll both be meeting new people so…"

"Of course."

Oliver sat there not knowing what to do, Felicity was just sitting there.

"Can…can I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"Is it…is it…is it because we're not having sex?!"

"NO!"

Felicity jumped at his vehement response.

"Good because I was going to make your life a misery if you replied yes!"

"I'm sorry Felicity."

Oliver stood up to leave, Felicity hadn't said another word. He looked back as he was going to leave the living room and saw her sitting there not moving at all. He wanted to leave but couldn't in good conscience do that to her. It was the first time he lied to her, granted it was a lie by omission but still, he didn't want to be _**that**_ person but it turns out he was _**still**_ that person. He walked back to Felicity and sat back down.

"Felicity, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you but I thought it would be for the best!"

"Oliver what are you talking about?"

Oliver just stared at his hands, he didn't have the courage to look at Felicity. He sat there for a while.

"Oliver? What did you mean?"

Oliver sighed.

"I was trying to do the right thing."

"Oliver I really don't understand."

"We're going to be in college in a month's time…"

"I know you've already said that part…"

"You're going to be at MIT! You are going to a place where everyone will understand you, unlike me who starts to get glassy eyed when you talk about motherboards and such!"

"Oliver…"

"Felicity please let me finish. You're going to meet new people, people on the same wavelength as you and you may want to see where those relationships go but if you're with me then that won't be possible…"

Felicity got up and started to pace the living room.

"Let me get this straight, you broke up with me not because _**you**_ want to be with other people but because you want _**me**_ to be with other people?"

"Felicity…"

"SERIOUSLY? HOW MANY PEOPLE, HOW MANY GUYS, BECAUSE I'M NOT INTO GIRLS NOT THAT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT BUT TO EACH THEIR OWN, BUT HOW MANY GUYS AM I SUPPOSED TO GO OUT WITH OR AM I SUPPOSED TO SLEEP WITH THEM AS WELL…?"

"Why are you shouting?"

"WHY? WHY? WHY AM I SHOUTING HMMMMMMMMMMMM, I WONDER WHY!"

"FELICITY!"

"I'M SHOUTING BECAUSE I REALSIED THAT I'M IN LOVE WITH A COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT!"

"YEAH WELL, I'VE REALISED I'M IN LOVE WITH A GENIUS!"

Both were breathing heavily after their outburst. It took both of them a few minutes to calm down. Felicity was red in the face but Oliver was pretty certain that it wasn't embarrassment but anger. They looked at each other and realised what the other said.

"Well that wasn't how I was going to tell you but there it is!"

Oliver smirked a little at Felicity's comment.

"Yeah, it wasn't how I wanted to tell you either!"

"Oliver, we love each other, that should be something great but why did you want me to be with other guys?"

"I don't _**want**_ you to be with anyone else but I don't want you to ever regret being with me…"

"Oliver why would I ever regret that?"

"Felicity, we both know you're much smarter than me and that college is going to be great for you. You're going to be amongst your peers, finally you will be with people who appreciate how smart you are…"

"Yeah and the whole world knows that Harvard only accepts those with no brains…" Felicity said sarcastically

"You got me into Harvard…"

"That's a load of crap!" Felicity held her hand up to stop Oliver from speaking "It is Oliver! _**You**_ worked hard, yes I helped but you put in the effort. _**You**_ stopped partying, _**you**_ started studying. I may have pointed out that you have some skills especially when it comes to languages but you put the effort in. _**You**_ wrote that amazing essay, you got into Harvard! I believed in you just like your parents and your friends, we all knew you had it in you but you had to know and believe it yourself first! I deserve you just as you deserve me! Besides, you can't help who you fall for. I love you! If you meet someone then I expect you to tell me then hopefully we'll still be friends. Look, do I want to be with you for the rest of my life? Yeah I can see that but one, we're way too young to be thinking about that, two I haven't got the wedding dress in my closet upstairs before you start hyperventilating and three we have no idea what the future holds. I want to see where this goes. If we're supposed to be together forever great but if we're only supposed to be a 'thing' until college then ok. Yes we're going to college and yes we're going to meet new people and yes we may want a relationship with those people, if that does happen then I hope we're both going to be mature about it and let the other know. We're both going to be living on campus, we're both going to have roommates it will be different hopefully good different but whatever happens I would still like to be friends. Now think about what you want. If you still want to break up fine, if you want to stay…"

Felicity was cut off when Oliver attached his mouth to hers. They kissed for a while and when they parted they both had massive grins on their faces.

"Oliver we just have to be honest with each other!"

"Yeah I know and not over think things!"

"Exactly besides you were right before…"

At Oliver's puzzled look Felicity burst out laughing.

"You're in love with a genius…"

Oliver groaned.

"I'm never going to live this down am I?"

"HELL NO!"

"I was trying to do the right thing…"

"I know but I'm not some simpering damsel in distress, I have a mind and I can use it. It was sweet in a really backwards way and please don't ever think you can 'think' for me again ok?"

"Oh trust me, I've learnt my lesson!"

"Good! You're _**my**_ idiot!"

"I think you're exact words were 'complete and utter idiot!'"

"Well no one can accuse you of being half assed about anything!"


	13. Chapter 13 - The Younger Brother

A/N: This is kind of a sequel to Chapter 8.

Just to make it clear I love Smallville, well the last two seasons, Clark and Lois all the way!

Chapter 13 – The Younger Brother

Oliver was on his way home from spending time with Felicity, as he drove closer to home he saw a familiar red hooded figure standing just in front of the gates as if he was waiting for Oliver. Oliver recalled the first time he met Roy.

 _Oliver went to Felicity's place to take her on a spontaneous picnic but found her on her doorstep hugging a boy in a red hoody. Felicity pulled back and saw Oliver standing there._

" _Oh Oliver! This is a surprise, I didn't expect you, obviously because if I did expect you then it wouldn't be a surprise."_

 _Roy was looking at him with contempt and Oliver was confused by the hostility. Roy moved to walk away but was stopped as Felicity caught his hood and pulled him back much to his shock. Roy gave her a dirty look and Oliver raised his eyebrow._

" _Oliver this is Roy, Roy this is Oliver…"_

 _Oliver held out his hand to Roy but Roy ignored it until Felicity lightly tapped his head and muttered 'manners!'_

 _Roy shook Oliver's hand briefly._

" _I was wondering if you were free for lunch…?" asked Oliver_

 _Roy rolled his eyes and was about to leave but Felicity still had a hold of his hood._

" _Wow Oliver that's great! Roy and I would love to join you for lunch! Big Belly Burger as usual?"_

 _Felicity was pleading with Oliver with her expressive eyes._

" _Of course!"_

 _Felicity sighed in relief._

" _C'mon Roy, you can order whatever you want, Oliver is paying today!"_

 _Oliver was surprised by this as they always had to split the bill according to Felicity but he didn't show it. Felicity grabbed a sweater and her bag and locked the front door, all the while still holding Roy's hood! All three got into the car with Roy in the back. They got to Big Belly Burger within ten minutes. They were seated and their waitress came over and Oliver was surprised by what Roy ordered._

" _Two triple belly buster meals with extra fries and a large soda!"_

 _A little head tap from Felicity prompted Roy._

" _Please?"_

 _Oliver and Felicity ordered their usual. Oliver assumed Roy was trying to prove something to him but Roy actually ate both meals with the extra fries in the same time as it took Oliver and Felicity to eat their meals. Oliver was flabbergasted, only once he managed to eat the triple belly buster meal and he was full for the rest of the day plus most of the next. He looked at Roy and knew that the boy was still hungry. A quick look at Felicity and he saw her shake her head ever so slightly so he kept his mouth shut._

" _So how do you two know each other?"_

" _Roy is my baby brother!"_

 _Oliver was shocked, he's pretty sure since the day she started to tutor him that she never mentioned a baby brother before, there was no family resemblance._

" _Huh?!I never knew you had a brother."_

" _She doesn't!"_

" _HEY! YOU'RE MY BROTHER WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! SO DEAL WITH IT!"_

 _Roy rolled his eyes._

" _I saw that!"_

" _We're not related…"_

 _Oliver just looked on in confusion, Felicity was sitting there practically in tears from Roy's declaration._

" _We're not related by blood but if I could choose an older sister I'd choose Felicity, she's the best! And I don't care how rich you are, you hurt her and you'll have me to answer to, do you understand?"_

 _Oliver watched a massive smile blossom on Felicity's face he hoped more to do with the fact that Roy would have chosen her if he could and not to do with the threat. After they finished their meal they went to the ice cream place where Roy demolished a huge ice cream Sunday which would usually feed a family of four! Oliver sat there feeling a little sick but Roy was enjoying himself._

 _Felicity hugged Roy and gave him the pizza they bought for him. Roy turned to Oliver._

" _You're not so bad for a rich guy but you have to man up and build up your appetite, you're kind of a lightweight when it comes to food!"_

 _With that Roy left the couple standing there one with his mouth hung open the other with a wide smile on her face._

 _Later Felicity explained how she knew Roy._

" _He tried to steal my Big Belly Burger one day and I was so hungry that there was no way a smart ass punk was going to take my food but when I got a good look at him I realised that was the only way he was going to eat so I took him to Big Belly and watched him eat, eat and eat! His mother is not always around which is probably a good thing, my mom works long hours but I know she loves me, I'm pretty sure Roy doesn't know what love is. His father left when he was only a few months old and the mom, well let's say I'm glad she's not around as much!"_

" _What about foster care?"_

" _Do you really think he would stay with strangers? It took him months to trust me and the fact that he got into the car with you is amazing, although it might have something to do with the fact that it's a 'James Bond' car…."_

 _At Oliver's look Felicity was indignant._

"… _what? I'm not into cars, be grateful that I knew it was in the Bond films!"_

 _Oliver laughed._

" _My mom looked into adopting him but his mother has to give up her parental rights and even though she doesn't care about him she won't want anyone else to have him. So every other Sunday I text him so he'll know where I'm going to be and we meet up and I feed him and buy him something for later. He doesn't like coming to the house because he doesn't want to be a bother, however since I've started helping him with his school work the deal is he comes to the house and I help him and he showers and eats at our place. When I met him, a few years ago he could barely read now he reads any book he can find!"_

" _You really need to speak to my dad about your plan, the sooner the better!"_

" _Maybe, I adopted Roy he's my brother from another mother!"_

 _Oliver smiled._

 _From that day Oliver would always ask if he and Thea could join Felicity and Roy so it became every other Sunday they would meet up (Felicity had her own time with Roy every other Sunday), a couple of times Tommy and Laurel came as well. Roy seemed to love the male attention, he didn't have any positive role models to look up to._

Oliver stopped the car just in front of the teen and waited for the youth to enter the car. Oliver didn't continue driving until the passenger seatbelt was fastened which was done with a huff from said passenger. Oliver waited for the large gates to open and continued to drive to the front of the imposing mansion. He stopped at the front door and both he and his passenger left the car but made no attempt to enter the decadent home instead they both as one walked to the side and carried on walking for a while neither saying a word. At one point the youngster thought that they were far enough from the house that he could say what he came to say. Oliver was looking at the boy and he looked the worst he's ever seen him. He looked as if he lost a lot of weight, not that he had any to spare, also his clothes were more dishevelled than normal. The next thing Oliver knew was that Roy was beating him or at least trying to, he was pounding on Oliver's chest as if his life depended on it. He wasn't hurting Oliver, there was no force to the punches, Thea hit harder than him and she was two years younger! This went on for a minute or two before Oliver decided to stop Roy.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER! IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE WAS ATTACKED! YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM! WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HIM? SHE'S MY SISTER AND I CAN'T EVEN LOOK AT HER ANY MORE, EVERYONE HAS SEEN THAT VIDEO! I CAN'T BE AROUND HER WITHOUT THINKG OF WHAT THAT BASTARD DID TO HER, WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HIM?"

Oliver listened and his heart broke for the teen to see his sister like that. Oliver knew Felicity was worried about Roy, it's been a month since she'd seen him and she's a natural worrier at the best of times but after the incident she was even more concerned about Roy, they had never gone this long without seeing each other and Felicity was thinking the worse. Oliver grabbed Roy's arms and held them by his side and watched as the angry teen let his tears fall for his beloved sister, the tears turned into gut wrenching sobs, Oliver couldn't keep his tears at bay at the pain in the young man in front of him. Oliver hugged Roy to him and the boy just carried on crying, Oliver assumed that he kept his feelings inside all this time and the floodgates just opened, Roy was resisting Oliver at first then he gave in and let himself be comforted. Oliver held onto Roy as if his life depended on it, his hand on the back of Roy's head to hold him in place against his shoulder. Thea knew something bad happened to Felicity but thankfully didn't exactly understand what, and by some miracle she never saw the video at least to their knowledge. After what seemed like hours but was in fact only ten minutes, Roy sobs started to slow, eventually they stopped and Roy pulled back and trying discreetly to get rid of the evidence of his tears. Neither realised that Tommy and Digg were standing there watching everything and that Oliver's parents were watching from one of the many windows, Moira had tears running down her cheeks and Robert had tears in his eyes.

"I wanted to kill him so bad I wasn't thinking when I started beating him, I just carried on and I probably would have killed him if Tommy didn't tell me, or it could have been Laurel, tell me that Felicity needed me. Felicity means the world to me you know that. The fact that she went through something like that because of me that will haunt me for the rest of my life! I had to think about Felicity in that moment of time. We didn't know about the video, I could have gone to prison for assault or even murder, what would have happened to Felicity if that happened? You know she would have blamed herself even though she was completely innocent, so was I. Carter was jealous pure and simple, that's why he went after Felicity. He is also a psychopath, you've seen the number of women who have come forward, that's what we know of, imagine the ones who are still too frightened! I wish I could stop this from happening to her but I can't. She's getting better but she would be even better if she could see her baby brother!"

"I can't look at her, I just see her on that bed, and every time I close my eyes I see that, I can't un-see that so I stay awake as long as possible!"

"She loves you and is worried about you!"

"What do I say to her?"

"Ask her about the latest episode of Smallville!"

"Oh man, really? That programme is so sappy, she knows that Clark and Lois are going to end up together…"

"Don't let her hear you say that, besides you owe her, I think two episodes should pay your debt although the longer you leave it the more episodes you will have to watch!"

"What about Doctor Who? Or X-Files? Those are programmes I can actually watch…"

"You've deliberately been ignoring her and you've missed two weekends plus you look rough, she's going to mother you for a long time and you've brought it on yourself!"

"But you can help me man, right?"

"I could but that is not going to happen, your actions, your consequences plus I really don't want to watch Smallville either, man up!"

"You're no help!"

"Damn straight, this is between you two and I'm not getting in the middle just like Felicity stays out of any argument me and Thea have!"

Once the storm was over Tommy and Digg moved forward, Roy saw this but Oliver managed to catch his hood (a habit he learned from Felicity) before Roy had a chance to run.

"So is this a private party or can anyone join in?" Tommy asked

"What do you have in mind?" asked Oliver

"Well, I think Roy here should see your private room!"

Roy was looking at them as if they were mad, they all had wide grins on their faces.

"Erm…I don't know what you three are into but I really don't need to …"

"Stop teasing the boy!" declared Digg

Tommy and Oliver burst out laughing. All four went to the newly refurbished gym. Digg threw a pair of boxing gloves to Roy and told him to put them on. Digg showed Roy how to punch and the three watched as the young teen purged his aggression out on the boxing bag. Roy watched Oliver and Tommy spar; Digg taught Roy some self-defence moves. After a couple of hours of working out they boys went to the kitchen to find a table loaded with a lot of food, Roy still felt uncomfortable in the mansion and tried to make excuses to Raisa about not staying to eat. Raisa held up her hand.

"That bag is for you and Miss Felicity! Make sure you eat ok?"

Roy was stunned by the generosity and looked at the massive bag. He felt the head tap and remembered to say 'thank-you'.

Oliver drove Roy to Felicity's place. Oliver knocked on the door and Felicity opened it with a smile. Before she could speak Oliver did.

"I brought you a present!"

Oliver pulled Roy into view and Felicity started to cry and hug Roy.

"Oh by the way, he's really sorry and wants to watch the whole last season of Smallville with you as an apology!"

"HUH?!" Roy squeaked

Oliver leaned in a whispered in Roy's ear.

"You made her cry! A lot! I lied, two episodes is not enough! You my friend are going to watch the whole season with her! Oh by the way, big brothers lie from time to time, just ask Thea!"

Oliver left with a massive grin on his face and with Roy being suffocated by Felicity while hugging him!


	14. Chapter 14 - Idiots and Scars

A/N: The medical elements and timings may not be accurate.

Please remember this is just a piece of fiction and treat it as such.

Chapter 14 – Idiots and Scars

Felicity was busy typing away on her computer in her office. She was head of Applied Sciences and IT for QC, a job that some thought she earned on her back but those ignorant people had to eat their words when she proved herself several times over in her first month.

 _Both Robert and Olive believed she deserved a decent office and made sure she agreed by furnishing it with everything she could ever want, there was a lab next door where she and her executive assistant could work on their projects, her office had a large desk with the latest computer on it (when she saw it tears were running down her cheeks), a large sofa which she could see herself and Oliver getting very comfortable on it which made her blush and Oliver smirk as he knew what she was thinking which made her stick her tongue out at him only to be caught by her future father-in-law but what really caught her eyes were the little touches, a bookcase with the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games to name a few, even though she generally read on her tablet (a Christmas present from Oliver) she also loved the feel of a book and an old arcade version of Space Invaders. Felicity just spun around the room trying to take everything in._

" _What makes you think I'm going to say yes?"_

" _Hmmmm that's easy, if you still refuse then George will get this office and everything in it!" declared Robert_

 _Felicity just looked at him with horror and her mouth open. George couldn't even open his email without help and the thought of giving him the state of the art computer that was on her desk was too much for her and she was in tears again. It took her a few minutes to gather herself together._

" _Too much?" Robert asked Oliver_

" _I think that went a little too far dad!"_

" _Ok, so when did you know I would say yes?" Felicity asked_

" _When you saw the books!" Oliver replied_

" _When you saw the arcade game!" Robert said_

" _I'm thinking maybe when you saw the couch and thought about all the late nights we could have." Whispered Oliver which resulted in Felicity slapping his chest._

 _Robert pretended not to hear that last little interaction but when he looked at his son and daughter –in-law (even though technically she wasn't yet, that's how he thought of her and had done so for a very long time) they must have realised he had because they were both blushing and couldn't look at the other._

Robert stood at the threshold of her office just looking at her, she was so absorbed in her worked that she didn't realise she was being watched. It broke his heart to have to shatter her world but it had to be him he didn't want a stranger to do it. He entered the office and stood by her desk and still Felicity didn't notice him.

"F…Felicity…"

Felicity jumped as she was shocked that Robert was standing in front of her.

"Oh hi Robert! I'm meeting Oliver for lunch in half an hour, do you want to join us for Big Belly Burger! I know you have to limit your intake of fast food but you've been really good lately and you can have a treat once in a while, I won't tell Moira! Not that I'll lie for you either we both know that I'm a terrible liar and Moira will know straight…"

Robert touched Felicity's hand to stop her talking. Felicity looked closely at her father-in-law and saw sorrow on his face but couldn't understand what was going on.

"Robert…"

"Oliver was in an accident…"

"What? Is he ok? How bad is he hurt? What happened?"

"Felicity, it doesn't look good, it was a bad accident…"

"But he's going to be fine right? We're going to Big Belly Burger for lunch…"

Felicity was beginning to become hysterical and she was crying and Robert's heart broke for the hurt his daughter was going to go through.

"We need to go to the hospital…"

"But Oliver will be fine right? He has to…"

Robert a took her arm and escorted her out of the office and the building, she didn't fail to notice the looks on people's face as she walked out, they were of pity which made her cry even harder. Once in the car she managed to pull herself together.

"Tell me." Whispered Felicity

"Oliver was driving, apparently on his way back here when he was hit by a drunk driver…"

Robert had to pause and take a few seconds to get control once again he felt Felicity take his hand and squeeze.

"…Oliver was taken to the hospital fifteen minutes ago, it took the EMTs a long time to free him as the car was m…m…mangled."

Felicity sobbed at this piece of news and Robert hugged her to him and allowed the tears he tried to hold back to flow. When they arrived at the hospital Moira was already there and she was also in tears and Felicity and Moira hugged each other and just cried. Robert went to see if there was any news on his son.

When the two women ran out of tears Felicity looked up to see John standing to the side looking a little weary. Felicity took one step then another then ran to John who caught her. John cradled her to him and kept on whispering 'Sorry, I'm so sorry' into her ear.

Felicity listened for a while then pulled back and took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes.

"I'm glad you weren't with him because then I'd be crying for the two of you and Sara may be left fatherless, there is no way either myself or Oliver would want that!"

"Oliver wanted to surprise you with something and he wanted me to take you to Big Belly Burger just in case he was late…"

"It's not your fault! He will be fine! You know how stubborn he can be!"

Robert and Moira watched the exchanged. John Diggle had become another son to them and the fact that he was Oliver's bodyguard and had proved himself so many times over made the emotional conversation between the brother and sister in front of them so painful for them to watch.

"We need to call Tommy and Laurel…" Robert began

"NO! They're on their honeymoon, there's no need to disturb them until we know more."

John turned Felicity to face him.

"Supposing it was the other way around, would you want to be here regardless if you were on your honeymoon?" John asked

Felicity sighed.

"Tell them that they don't need to come back until we have more…"

Felicity broke down before she could finish and she ended up nodding her head instead.

Robert strode away to make the phone call.

"Thea is going to be picked up from the airport; Roy is waiting for her and will bring her here."

Felicity nodded while in John's arms.

Thea arrived a couple of hours later running into the waiting room where she burst into tears when she saw everyone.

"Any news yet?" Thea asked as she was hugged by her parents, Felicity and John

"He's in surgery, he lost a lot blood at the scene because it took them a long time to get him out and they couldn't stabilize him until they got him out…"

"I saw the wreckage on the news, he survived that then he can survive surgery…" said Thea

"Your brother is stubborn! Trust me there is no way he will miss the chance to make Roy's life a misery for dating you!"

Thea looked at Felicity with a smile on her face. Roy rolled his eyes. They sat down to wait, the surgery was going to take hours to complete. Roy, John, Moira and Robert all took turns to get coffee and sandwiches not that Felicity drank or ate anything. It was in the early hours of the next morning that Tommy and Laurel arrived, they came straight from the private airport. They saw Felicity first; she was staring straight ahead with tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. Thea and Roy were in each other's arms staring at the TV, Moira and Robert were asleep in the uncomfortable chairs and John was sitting up alert keeping an eye on Felicity. Tommy bent down and wiped the tears from Felicity's face; Felicity wrapped her arms around Tommy's neck and sobbed into his chest. Tommy looked at John for help; John signalled to Tommy to step outside, Tommy passed Felicity to Laurel so the two could console each other.

"What happened?"

"Oliver was on his way back to Starling when he was hit by a drunk driver, the car was totalled. It took the EMTs ages to get Oliver out all the while he was bleeding. You've seen the wreck by now?"

Tommy nodded. His eyes were also red rimmed.

"They took him into surgery, its touch and go."

"How's Felicity taking it?"

"You've seen her; I think she's holding on by a thread. If anything happens to Oliver she will never recover just like if it was the other way around, each of them would function day to day but they would never _live_ again."

They both went back to the waiting room to wait for news.

It was a couple of hours later when a surgeon came to find them.

"Family of Oliver Queen?"

They all stood up, John was holding one of Felicity's hand, Moira the other, Robert was holding Moira.

"Mr Queen suffered a traumatic brain injury which resulted in a skull fracture…"

You could hear Felicity sob loudly at this news.

"…his left arm is broken in several places and both his legs are also broken. He sustained injuries to his back from the impact of the other vehicle. At the moment these injuries seem to be superficial mostly cuts and bruises from the impact of the glass and the metal of the car. These should heal in time but may result in scars…"

"We don't care if there are any scars; we just want him to be fine."

"At this moment in time the next 24 hours will be critical. He is in an induced coma to help his body recover…"

"When can we see him?" Robert asked

"He's being moved to recovery as we speak and will be in an ICU room. We can only allow two persons at a time…"

"Felicity you and Robert go in first then I will go when Robert comes out and Thea can be the last to go in." Moira said

"Are you sure?" asked Felicity

"Felicity, you are his wife you need to be there and we know you won't want to leave him! It's settled!"

Everyone camped out for the next 24 hours, Felicity, Thea, Moira and even Robert shed tears when they finally saw Oliver. Thea, Robert and Moira kept on rotating their visits while Felicity stayed with Oliver for the majority of the time. Donna and Quentin arrived during this time. Felicity held onto Oliver's little finger on his right hand and spoke to him. She would kiss him on his forehead every so often.

After the 24 hours the doctors met with the family again.

"We're pleased that Mr Queen survived the initial period now we have to wait and see we he will wake up from the coma, we are keeping him sedated for the next couple of days then we will reduce the amount of pain medication so hopefully he will begin to wake up."

"Thank you doctor!"

Felicity continued her vigil of Oliver over the next day, while the others took turns. Everyone was concerned about Felicity she barely ate or drank anything; she just stayed close to Oliver holding his hand. Diggle couldn't take this and couldn't stand to watch her waste away; she was losing weight that she couldn't afford. Everyone tried to talk to her about it but she insisted that she wanted to be there when Oliver woke up. A day after the doctor reduced the pain medication Digg took things into his own hands. Felicity would have a brief break every ten hours where she would sip a cup of coffee and nibble a stale bagel then she would go in and sit with Oliver again. So the next time Felicity came out Digg handed her a cup of coffee and watched her drink it, after a couple of sips Felicity put the cup down and closed her eyes and went limp. Robert and Moira were worried about this until Digg came and picked her up.

"What did you do?" Moira asked

"I did what was necessary; I wasn't going to watch her die a slow death!"

"Hey, we weren't complaining we were going to congratulate you and ask what you wanted for your funeral because when she wakes up you're a dead man!" Thea declared

"It's a sleeping drug that will help her and I have a plan so she won't kill me! I hope it works!"

"Where are you taking her? Home?"

"Hell no! She will definitely kill me if I take her that far away from Oliver! There's a room on the floor below this and booked it in her name. I'll watch over her for the first six hours if someone can take the last couple?"

"We'll do that!" Laurel and Tommy said. "How long should it last?"

"Erm eight hours give or take."

"You are really scared of her aren't you?" declared Tommy

"HELL YEAH! She can be vicious if you provoke her even if it's for a good cause!"

Digg watched over Felicity in her hospital room. At the allotted time Tommy and Laurel came to take over.

"WHERE IS HE?" Felicity screamed

Both Tommy and Laurel had never seen her like this before and were quite frankly a little scared and felt sorry for Digg. Felicity made her way back to the ICU waiting room and she was on the war path, she was dressed in Oliver's hoody and her yoga pants (thanks to Digg). Everyone in her path made way for her, Tommy and Laurel following quietly behind. Robert and Moira were together but as soon as they saw their very angry daughter-in-law they stepped aside to reveal Digg who was carrying his daughter Sara, Felicity paused for a second and was going to carry on with her attack when

"Ann Lissy!" Sara screamed

Felicity could not ignore her god daughter or kill the man that was holding her. Sara had her arms held up waiting to go to her favourite aunt, everyone was her favourite, Felicity took the child into her arms and just hugged her.

"You're still a dead man just remember that! Just because you were right and I needed the rest and I do feel better plus the change of clothes doesn't mean I forgive you, plus it was a cheap trick to bring Sara here to deflate my anger, watch your back mister! Plus wait until Oliver hears you drugged me!"

"Ann Lissy booboo?"

"No sweetheart, I don't have a booboo. Uncle Oliver has a booboo."

"I tiss it?"

"Oh yes you can kiss it better later, he will love it! You can also kiss your daddy's booboo!"

Sara turned around to face her daddy.

"Dada, you have booboo?"

Before Digg could reply everyone heard Felicity say "Not yet he doesn't!"

Everyone also heard Digg gulp very loudly. The others had very wide smiles that they were trying to cover.

"How is he?"

"Still no change."

Felicity went back into the room and sat down and took Oliver's hand again and began chatting about anything. She took more regular breaks and had naps in the room on the floor below but she refused to thank Digg at all although at one point she did hug him tightly and left to go back to Oliver.

It was another two days before Felicity felt Oliver's hand move, she thought she was dreaming until it happened a couple of more times. When she looked up she could see his eyes, they seemed confused but she loved seeing them she thought she would only see them in her dreams. She was so afraid that she was going to lose him forever. She called the nurses and was asked to leave, she went back to the waiting room and told everyone what had happened and burst into tears again. This time it was Quentin who comforted her. The doctors were confident that Oliver would make a good recovery, it would take a long time and a lot of rehabilitation but the prognosis was good. Everyone was so relieved. They were going to keep him in ICU for another day and then move him to a regular room.

Once Oliver was in a regular room he was allowed more visitors at the same time, there were benefits to being hugely wealthy, he couldn't speak for the first couple of days, he would squeeze people's hands and blink yes or no responses. Felicity spent a lot of time with him; she kept hold of his hand and always kissed him on the lips and the forehead. It got to the point where he was much better; he could speak and was making an impressive recovery. It took him a long time to get to this point but everyone was with him all the way. Thea went back to Princeton after Oliver was out of the woods but insisted on daily skype sessions so she could literally see how well he was recovering. All the others bar Digg and Felicity went back to work, Robert and Moira cut back severely on their hours, Moira would spend the morning at the hospital, and Robert the afternoon and the evening was for everyone else. Oliver appreciated the company. The doctor came to see him and explained the severity of his injuries and the time frame he was looking at to be fully recovered, this got him thinking. He thought he would be ok within a month but he was looking closer to six months if he was lucky.

"Felicity we need to talk." Declared Oliver

Felicity kissed him hello.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I think it's best if I move back to the mansion when they release me."

"Well duh! Our stuff is already there, great minds think alike and by the way you better get your appetite back when we go to the mansion because Raisa is planning to make all your favourites and I mean ALL your favourites, I think we're going to have to roll you out of the mansion when we go back to our place!"

"I thought I would go home to the mansion and you can stay at the loft."

"Well, what's the point of that? I'll be spending most of my time with you anyway so I may as well stay at the mansion with you!"

"I think we may need some time apart, you've been here pretty much 24-7 since the accident, you probably should have some time to yourself."

Felicity had a confused expression on her face; her nose was all scrunched up!

"Huh?"

"I just think we need some space!"

"Well I don't care what you think, I'm not leaving you!"

"Well I want a divorce!"

There was silence for a few minutes then Felicity just walked out of the room. Digg found her sitting outside the room and he knew she was in a terrible rage and he didn't want to be on the end of it so quietly stepped into Oliver's room. Digg saw the tears on Oliver's face and sighed, he was not getting in the middle of this, he knew with 99% certainty that Oliver did something momentously stupid but Felicity could sort him out not him.

"Felicity what are you doing out here? Is everything ok?"

Felicity looked up to see Moira, Robert and Thea there. She knew she looked haggard but that was not her fault but Oliver's.

"NO EVERYTHING IS NOT OK! I'M RESEARCHING ANNULMENTS!"

Everyone was taken aback by the tone and loudness of the petite woman in front of them.

"Erm may I ask why?" asked a tentative Moira

"WHY? WHY? WELL BECAUSE YOUR SON WANTS TO DIVORCE ME!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"EXACTLY! I'M NOT GIVING HIM THE SATISFACTION! SO I'M RESEARCHING ANNULMENTS BECAUSE NONE OF YOU TOLD ME I WAS MARRYING A COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT! THAT HAS TO BE CAUSE FOR AN ANULLMENT!"

The three noticed that she directed her loud voice to the closed door.

The three had smiles on their faces.

Thea and Moira sat on either side of Felicity to try and calm her down.

"You know dear; men generally don't know how to react to emotional things…"

"Yeah, he's probably trying to do the whole 'protecting you for your own good' thing…"

"I KNOW THAT! I'M NOT THE MORON, THAT WOULD BE YOUR SON AND YOUR BROTHER! I REALLY HOPE STUPIDITY IS NOT GENETIC BECAUSE OUR KIDS, YOURS AND MINE THEA, WILL BE DOOMED!"

Moira and Thea just laughed while Felicity gave her father-in-law such a dark look he quickly went into Oliver's room where he saw Digg crying with tears of laughter and Oliver looking chagrined.

"So what stupid bright idea did you have?" Robert asked

The three men heard more conversation from outside before Oliver could respond.

"DIVORCE? DIVORCE, IF THAT IDIOT WANTS A DIVORCE FINE! I'LL GIVE HIM A DIVORCE, I'LL TAKE HIM FOR EVERYTHING HE HAS, HIS PRECIOUS COMICS, HIS ASHTON MATHEW…"

"I think you mean Aston Martin dear." Moira said

"I DON'T CARE, THE IDIOT KNOWS WHAT I MEAN AND I'LL KEEP THE CAR, THE ASTON MATHEW -MARTIN IT'S STILL A BOYS NAME STARTING WITH M, HOW SEXIST IS THAT! THEN I'LL KEEP THE CAR AND READ HIS PRECIOUS COMICS IN IT PLUS I'LL GO ON DATES IN IT MAYBE EVEN HAVE SEX WITH A LOAD OF GUYS IN IT! I MEAN A LOAD OF SEX WITH DIFFERENT GUYS NOT SEX WITH A WHOLE LOAD OF GUYS, IT'S A CAR FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE NOT A BUS! Not that we've had sex in cars, well not that many times, well I stopped counting once we reached double digits and not recently, Oliver actually prefers the bedroom and bathroom, not that there's anything wrong with sex in a car it can be quite exciting but none of us are as young as we once were, there's a lot to be said for comfort…"

"Well dear you're only as old as you feel, personally I find the Bentley has more room but to each their own!" declared Moira

The men had different looks on their faces, Oliver embarrassment, Digg shock and Robert embarrassment and shock rolled into one. They could also hear Thea's EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

The guys being guys just tried to ignore what happened and Oliver answered his father as if none of them heard the previous conversation outside.

"I just thought that she would be better if she was free of me. I don't know if I'll make a full recovery and if I don't then she'll be stuck with me, not being whole. I thought divorce would be a great idea."

"I think you need you head examined because you're a complete idiot! Just answer me three; no four questions. 1, do you love Felicity?"

"Of course!"

"2, if it was the other way around would you leave Felicity?"

Oliver shook his head no.

"3, so if something similar happened to your mother and I, you would expect us to get divorced?"

Again Oliver shook his head no. Digg was having a great time; he's never been so entertained in his life. A mad Felicity was a force to be reckoned with.

"4, if, heaven forbid something were to happen to either Thea or Roy you would be glad if the other started divorce proceedings?"

Oliver, again shook his head no.

"So why do you think you and Felicity would be better off without each other? By the way the fact that Felicity knows how to hurt you says a lot!"

"I just don't want to be a burden to her. She's still young and can make a life for herself…"

"Could you do that if she was in the hospital?"

"No."

"So why do you think she could?"

"Look, I know I messed up and it will take me the rest of my life to grovel to her but I thought it was for the best."

"That's why you don't make important decisions when you're not yourself! You still have a long way to go but you will get there but let's take the worst case scenario, if you don't fully recover, this is it, has your feeling for Felicity changed?"

Oliver shook his head no.

"Has Felicity, since you've been conscious, has she for even one moment been disappointed or seemed burdened to you?"

"No, but I just want her to have a happy life."

"You didn't see her when she found out about the accident and when she saw the wreckage, she broke apart. It was as if she lost part of herself, you can ask anyone that spent time in the waiting room with us. I've never seen her like that neither had her mom, I hope you never have to see her like that, she was absolutely devastated that she might lose you. That was not an act. Felicity isn't exactly quiet as we've just heard, so if on the off chance she wants a divorce she'll let you know loud and clear. I never thought you had a death wish but from what I've just seen you should be planning your funeral because your wife is going to bury you!" Digg said

"Oh man, you guys have to help me make it up to her!"

"HELL NO! Your mess you have to sort it out!"

"You're on your own son!"

For the rest of that day Felicity stayed outside the room and anytime Oliver had a visitor you heard Felicity say "the idiot is in" or "the moron is in" whenever the door was opened much to the amusement of the visitors.

The next day Felicity entered Oliver's room, they both eyed each other. Felicity sat down on the chair and asked a surprising question.

"Is your arm painful?"

Oliver had a perplexed look on his face but shook his head no. The next thing he knew was Felicity was hitting his arm.

"You are a complete and utter pea brained moronic idiot!"

"Feel better now?"

"Much thank you!"

Felicity took his right hand like she usually did and squeezed and began to read to him as if nothing had happened.

Eventually Oliver was allowed to leave and both he and Felicity moved into the mansion, there was a small welcome home party for him with all his favourites cooked by Raisa; thankfully he had his appetite back.

Oliver was determined to get back to 'normal' as quickly as possible and put in a lot of effort. At one point Oliver demanded that Felicity went back to work they had an argument about it but Felicity compromised and went to work in the mornings. Curtis, her executive assistant, earned a pay rise because he kept everything going while she was with Oliver. She only agreed to go back to work because Oliver was quite persuasive.

"Felicity, I just want some guy time with Digg, is that too much to ask?"

"I suppose not!"

"Plus Tommy may also come on rare occasions…"

"Oh great, I do not want to know what things you three get up to ok?"

"Deal, thanks!"

A few weeks after she started back at QC she came home and went straight to Oliver's 'rehab' room, she was expecting to see him sitting in his wheelchair but was completely shocked to find him standing and taking steps towards her. She dropped her bags, and rushed forward and hugged him all the while making his t-shirt wet with her tears, Oliver wrapped his arms around her and held her so tight. They stayed like that for ages, her hair ended up slightly wet as well from Oliver's tears.

"Why did you keep it a secret?" whispered Felicity

"I wanted to surprise you!"

"This is the best gift ever! I love you!"

"Even though I'm an idiot?"

"Yeah but you're _**my**_ idiot!"

A couple of weeks later Oliver was getting steadier and steadier on his feet they were in bed. Felicity woke up to tears falling on her hand; she always slept with her hand over Oliver's heart just to make sure it was beating.

"Oliver? What's the matter?"

Felicity sat up leaned over Oliver turning a lamp on.

"Oliver, tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing…"

"No it's not, please…"

"I…I… had a dream…"

"Was it a nightmare?"

"No, it…it was really nice. It was us two, just us two…"

"Ok what happened?"

"We…we…were making love and it felt so real and so good then I woke up and I realised it was just a dream and I thought that I may never make love with you again."

"Oh Oliver, the doctors said that we have to give it time and if we never do then you can still remember every other time we have…"

"But what about you?"

"What about me what?"

"Won't you want to be with someone at some point?"

"Oliver, I will say this as many times as you want, I will not leave you! I do not want anyone else, well not unless it's Johnny Lee Miller, he's SO good in Elementary, Jamie Dornan, do I need to say anything more than 50 shades? Or Tom Welling, he can be my Clark Kent any day! Even then I would hesitate granted maybe for a couple of minutes but I would hesitate! The thought of sleeping with someone else apart from the three mentioned above, is just ewww. You know me, you know what I like and you're the only one who I want to see me naked!"

"I may never be able to do what we did before…"

"So, I don't mind being on top, anyway you used to like it as well if my memory is correct."

Oliver smiled at that.

"Do you want to try it?"

Oliver hesitated

"Supposing it doesn't work?" Oliver asked

"Then we can try different things!"

They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces much later and Oliver was very relaxed thanks to his wonderful wife.

Oliver continued to improve and the couple kept on discovering what Oliver could and could not do. Regardless of what he couldn't do both always had a smile on their faces before they fell asleep.

Felicity was happy with Oliver's progress but on the rare occasions that they were alone when she arrived home from work Oliver never wanted to be intimate. She knew he wanted her, he always wanted her but it seemed as if he was only happy being close at night and it took Felicity longer than she cared to admit when she realised what was bothering her dear husband. She was on a mission. Oliver always managed to have his shower when she was still in bed or when she left for work, she couldn't believe that she never noticed it before. Felicity told Oliver she had an early meeting the night before so she would have to wake up and leave earlier than usual, unbeknown to Oliver Felicity told Curtis to clear her morning. Felicity woke up kissed Oliver on the cheek and 'got ready for work' and left the bedroom. Just in case her dear husband was waiting to hear the car leave Felicity told her confused driver to go to QC and come back when she usually left. She walked back into the mansion to see her Mother and Father In-laws looking at her with raised eyebrows, she put a finger to her lips so they wouldn't say anything then walked up the stairs back to her bedroom. She looked through the keyhole and could just make out an empty bed. She slowly opened the door and walked in. She could hear the shower running. She locked the bedroom door and started to take off her clothes, once she was completely naked she opened the bathroom door and quickly and quietly closed it, Oliver seemed to be oblivious. She walked to the shower cubical and opened the door. Oliver turned around straight away and was shocked to see his wife there. He tried to leave but Felicity wouldn't let him before he could say anything she slowly started to kiss every scar that she could see on his front. Oliver stilled when he realised what she was doing then he shuddered. Felicity continued to show how much she loved every part of him. When she was finished with the front she stared at him and when he didn't move she raised an eyebrow and Oliver reluctantly turned around, Felicity carried on her ministrations to the scars on his back. Once she was finished he turned around once more.

"Like I've said before you're a complete and utter idiot but you're _**my**_ idiot. I love every inch of you! I _**love**_ these scars because they remind me every day how close I came to losing you and if that happened I don't think I would have survived it! I'm not being dramatic. I know we've been together for a few years but we're recently married and we're staring our lives together, I don't want to lose you and I came so close, it was too close! So you do not have to be ashamed or embarrassed or whatever about these scars, not with me, never with me. Do you understand?"

Felicity was openly crying and Oliver was also crying although he would say it's the shower. Oliver nodded.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that they would disgust you…"

"The only thing that disgusts me about you is the fact that you do not like chocolate cereal! How anyone can hate chocolate cereal is beyond me and fyi when and if we're blessed with kids they will be having chocolate cereal!"

"Maybe only on the weekends!"

"Fine! But our kids' maybe idiots anyway so they may not know the days of the week! Just saying!"

Oliver smiled and leaned into his wife.

Later that day after spending more time in the shower and their bed the two of them walked down to have lunch in the dining room where they were surprised to see both Moira and Robert.

"So Oliver I take it you still like both the bedroom and bathroom?"

Oliver and Felicity were so embarrassed they blushed bright red and just looked at their plates as Raisa brought out the food.

"Master Oliver needs to eat to keep up his strength!" said Raisa

Oliver covered his face with his hands; he couldn't believe they were sitting at the dining room table talking about his sex life.

Felicity took her phone out and made a call; generally cell phones were not allowed to be used at the table.

"Curtis, you're next project is to make that 'forgetting gadget' from M.I.B.! ASAP!"

Felicity and Oliver eventually regained their composure and enjoyed their lunch. Raisa was bringing out the dessert when Moira asked another question.

"Oliver dear we're so happy with your recovery, you have worked so hard. We know it hasn't been easy but you persevered and we're really proud of you, we want to get you something…"

"That's not necessary mom. Everything was easy because I had so many people supporting me even when I was a douche."

"I think the term you were thinking of is 'idiot' or 'moron' they're interchangeable!" declared Felicity

"We were thinking, your father and I, that we want to buy you a new car, you haven't replaced your previous one, the only question is would you like another Aston Martin or a Bentley?"

There was a few seconds of silence then Oliver was banging his head on the table, Felicity sat there with her mouth open and again bright red while Moira ate her dessert as if nothing happened and Robert was choking on his dessert.

"This is your fault!" Felicity stated

Oliver looked at her as if she was completely mad.

"How do you reckon?"

"Well if you didn't have that stupid idea to divorce me; then I wouldn't have been outside using my loud voice! You know I have a loud voice. See totally your fault!"

Oliver just dropped his chin to his chest in defeat.

A couple of months later they were going to move back into their apartment but it was so close to Christmas Oliver's parents asked them to stay until the new year and they both thought it would be great symbolism to move back in the new year.

Felicity walked into their apartment and saw the ice cream on the counter with a note by the side.

"I'm fine just a little tired so I went to take a nap, join me if you want?"

Felicity was concerned about Oliver, he left work early and she was worried but if he got her favourite mint choc chip ice cream then he couldn't be that bad. She walked up the stairs to their bedroom and opened the door and what she saw shocked her. She dropped her beloved ice cream and couldn't believe her eyes, there was Oliver standing in a three piece suit minus the jacket, there was something about Oliver in a waistcoat that drove her absolutely mad, she bit her lip, in just the way that drove Oliver mad and realised he was wearing thick black rimmed glasses a la Clark Kent. Oliver slowly walked towards her.

"May I have this dance Miss Lane?"

Felicity couldn't speak she could only nod. Music started to play and Oliver recreated the scene when Lois and Clark dance in the barn, when they tell each other that they love each other. They danced for a while. Oliver carried Felicity to their bed where Felicity sat up and removed the glasses from Oliver.

"I love you Oliver!"

"I love you Felicity! Thank you for loving me and sticking with me even though I was an idiot!"

Oliver replied as he removed her glasses.

"Like I said, you're _**my**_ idiot!"

They showed each other how they felt about the other throughout the night.

Oliver used the fact that all he had to do was put on some thick black rimmed glasses with a suit and Felicity couldn't resist him and Felicity knew all she had to do to get his attention was to bite her lip. They both used this to their advantages for the rest of their lives not that it was a hardship for either one.


	15. Chapter 15 - Alyssa

Chapter 15 – Alyssa

Felicity couldn't understand why the crying wouldn't stop. She changed the diaper, she fed her daughter and she'd been rocking her daughter for the last 30 minutes and still her angel would not stop crying. The only one that could soothe her was her daddy. Alyssa Queen was truly a daddy's girl. Oliver could do no wrong in their daughter's eyes, granted she was only eight months old but still. Oliver took to fatherhood much better than anyone including Felicity expected.

" _So Oliver do you have a preference? Boy or Girl?"_

" _Hmmm?"_

" _Oliver, look at me. Do you have a preference?"_

 _Oliver looked at his wife who was round with their first child, he loved her so much and he knew she would be disappointed with his answer. He took a deep breath and gave the answer that he knew would break his wife's heart._

" _I would prefer a boy; I don't particularly want any daughters!"_

 _Felicity sat there shocked. After a minute she spoke._

" _Can I ask why?"_

 _Oliver sat next to Felicity on their bed._

" _Felicity I think boys would be easier to bring up. At least I wouldn't have to worry about when they start dating plus you remember what I was like before you tutored me, I really don't want that bad karma coming back to bite me!"_

" _Oliver you have to remember that you didn't use those girls, both of you were always on the same page, you both wanted a bit of fun and you were careful. You never promised something that you couldn't give! You have nothing to be ashamed of!"_

" _Supposing she follows my footsteps? I don't think I would be able to handle that! Supposing someone like Bowen fixates on her?"_

" _You know at some point our child or children will have sex right?"_

 _At Oliver's pained look Felicity relented._

" _Obviously that won't be until they are 30 and are married!" Felicity said with a smile "Plus who's the Queen of the internet? You know I would do anything and everything to protect our children!"_

" _Do you hate me now?"_

" _Oh Oliver, no! If you only wanted sons to carry on the family name or something just as ridiculous then maybe my feelings for you would have changed but I know why you think what you think! Would…would you want me to have a termination…"_

 _Felicity couldn't even finish her sentence before Oliver shouted out._

" _NO! NEVER! I may prefer boys but if we're blessed with a daughter I will love her and any kids we have with my whole heart, I promise you!"_

" _That's all I need to know!"_

" _I'm still going to ban all of our daughters from dating until they're 30!"_

 _Felicity rolled her eyes._

" _What about our sons?"_

" _What about them?"_

" _Are they going to be banned from dating until they're 30? Bear in mind your answer will affect the rest of your life! Also, would you really turn into one of those sexist pigs that believe women and men have different rules? Are you telling me you would treat your kids differently just because of their gender?"_

 _Oliver opened and closed his mouth several times before leaving it closed._

" _Good answer!" Felicity said as she patted Oliver's cheek "You're going to be a great dad!"_

" _Do you really think so?"_

" _Of course! They're going to have you wrapped around their little fingers!"_

 _Oliver scoffed._

" _Oh please! I'm going to be the disciplinarian!"_

 _Felicity just burst into laughter and couldn't stop for a long while._

Felicity turned to answer the knock at the door, Felicity opened the door to see her mother-in-law there. Moira took Alyssa out of Felicity's arms and for a brief moment there was silence then Alyssa made herself the centre of attention but crying again.

"I see we have a daddy's girl here!"

"You have no idea! She's only quiet for Oliver. You would think she's a completely different child if you saw her with Oliver!"

"Get used to it! Thea was the same with Robert. It's as if they have a sixth sense and know their daddy would do anything for them!"

"Oliver is so sweet with her, it always brings a smile to my face."

"I have an offer for you. I would like you to know that the mansion is always open for you. You can come any time and bring this sweetheart with you. It will give you a break sometimes; plus since Robert has cut down at work we would like to enjoy our first, hopefully of many, grandchildren."

Felicity had a shock look on her face, thinking about having another child right now was definitely NOT on the cards.

"Robert and I have wanted to just pop by and see Alyssa but we knew from first-hand experience how that can sometimes be awkward, trust me when Oliver was a baby both sets of grandparents practically lived at the mansion and we promised ourselves we would never do that to our children."

"That's really generous! Thank you!"

"Generous not so much, selfish would probably be more accurate if I were honest! As grandparents it's our right to spoil this angel and we can't wait to start!"

"Hmmmmm I think you're going to be hard pressed to do that, our little princess has been spoilt since before she was born, especially by Digg, Lyla, Tommy and Laurel!"

"Oh please like you and Oliver are any different with Sara, Andy and Oliver!"

"One, that's not the point and two, I still can't get over Tommy and Laurel naming their son after Oliver! You should have seen him at the hospital when they told us Oliver was speechless and then he hugged Tommy and kissed Laurel."

"Well I know Oliver is going to be away for a whole week so if you want to spend some time or even the whole week at the mansion then we would love to have you!"

"Thank you so much. That's really nice of you and I am a little nervous of staying by myself with Alyssa, I know it sounds …pathetic.."

"Nonsense child, it takes time getting used to things and being in charge of a new baby is a huge thing. I had Raisa help me, who by the way will take Alyssa from you every moment she has just so you know, I think it's wonderful that you want to raise your children without the help of a nanny but that doesn't mean you can't take a break here or there, plus Raisa will be appeased, she was a little upset that she was not going to be Alyssa's nanny!"

"Oh we didn't mean to hurt her…"

"She knows that now! She thought you were going to get someone else but when she realised you were going to take a year off for maternity then she was ok with your decision!"

Alyssa's crying was taking its toll on the adults in the room. Felicity got her phone and quickly typed something and hoped the crying would end soon. Not two minutes later her tablet was beeping for an incoming call. She quickly answered it and apologised to Moira at the same time.

 _Felicity remembered the first time she heard Oliver sing Alyssa's favourite song. It was 2 am and Felicity turned to lean into Oliver to find his side of the bed empty. She knew exactly where he was and when she heard the voice through the baby monitor she was smiling then she actually listened to the lyrics and rushed to their daughter's room to find Oliver rocking their little princess._

 _I call the shots, shots, shots_

 _Like bra, bra, bra_

 _Pay me what you owe me, don't act like you forgot_

 _Bitch better have my money!_

 __ _Bitch better have my money!_

 __ _Pay me what you owe me_

" _Erm Oliver, do you really think that's the best song to sing to our angel?"_

" _Well look at her, she's almost asleep." Oliver whispered_

 _Felicity looked at Alyssa and she was shocked to see her daughter's eyes drooping._

" _Wow, how did you know she liked this song?"_

" _It was Thea, I came home one day to find Thea playing it and I wasn't pleased and she showed me that Allie was fast asleep. For some reason this song always gets her to sleep. Trust me I was as surprised as you are!"_

" _Hmmm, maybe we can change the words a little?"_

 _Oliver looked at her as if she was mad._

" _Oliver, do you want our daughter's first word to be B – I- T – C – H?"_

 _Oliver looked at her in horror._

" _Exactly, so why don't we change it a little?"_

 _Oliver looked at her then looked at their precious gift that was about to wake up and he just started singing again._

"I'm really really sorry that you will have to be here for this but it's the only thing that will keep her quiet!"

Moira gave her a confused look as she sat down with Alyssa in her arms.

"Hey baby why are you crying?" asked Oliver from the tablet

Alyssa recognised her daddy's voice and quietened her cries, she reached for her daddy, Oliver was doing the same, it seemed to help the baby, enough so she stopped crying completely!

"Oliver our little princess hasn't been down for her nap yet….could you…?"

Oliver huffed but there was a smile on his face.

"Of course, anything for our princess!

I call the shots, shots, shots

Like pop, pop, pop

Pay me what you owe me, don't act like you forgot

Witch better have my money!

Witch better have my money!

Pay me what you owe me

Witch better have my (witch better have my)

Witch better have my (witch better have my)

Witch better have my money!

First of all Moira couldn't believe her son was singing then she couldn't believe what he was singing but the most amazing thing was the fact that her granddaughter's eyes were beginning to droop. Oliver repeated his version a couple more times until all the adults were confident that the baby was in a deep sleep.

"Thanks Oliver, love you!"

"Love you too, you too mom. Kiss Allie for me!"


End file.
